Imponderables dot the Babri demolition case

It is difficult to say that the framing of charges against BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister Uma Bharti and three others in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case in a special CBI court in Lucknow is a setback for the BJP. Both Advani and Joshi were once very powerful but having been sidelined on pretext of age after the party stormed to power in 2014 at the Centre, they are virtually powerless today. The party, dominated and commandeered by Narendra Modi now calls them ‘margdarshak’ or guides. Advani has, in recent weeks, been talked of as a possible presidential candidate of the NDA but the framing of charges in the Babri Masjid case has weakened his case. However, considering that he was deputy prime minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government even though the controversial demolition had taken place many years prior, it would really boil down to the attitude that Prime Minister Modi and the RSS take to the issue. It cannot be denied that the filing of a chargesheet in a CBI court amounts to a taint so the powers that-be may well opt to take that factor into account.

The age factor too can hardly be brushed aside. Advani is 89 while Joshi is 83. Many may argue that their mental faculties are still strong but the fact is that the BJP had, after the 2014 victory, decided not to consider anyone beyond 75 for public office including ministerships. The exalted office of President may well be considered to be outside the pale of this unwritten code but it depends on which way the argument is led. There are questions being raised about two other high-profile undertrials in the case—Uma Bharti, who some say needs to step down as a minister since she has been charged of criminal conspiracy, and Kalyan Singh, who was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time of the Babri Masjid demolition. Kalyan Singh has indeed been protected from being chargesheeted by a law that exempts governors from being prosecuted while they hold office. After the case dragged on for 25 years and became a talking point of judicial delays, the Supreme Court has now laid down that it has to be completed in two years. That would take it close to the 2019 general elections. It now remains to be seen whether the verdict would come before or after the polls and what impact it would have for the BJP. Would it polarise politics especially in the electorally-crucial state of UP?