Uma unperturbed, says ‘ready TO SACRIFICE LIFE FOR RAM TEMPLE’
NEW DELHI: Unfazed by the apex court order that she be tried for "conspiracy" in the Babri mosque demolition case, Union minister Uma Bharti today said she is ready to sacrifice her life for construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.
"Grand Ram temple in Ayodhya is my dream. Ready to go to prison or be hanged for India and Ram Mandir," the senior BJP leader told reporters here. Bharti, who said she would go to Ayodhya on Wednesday night, cancelled her visit apparently after being advised by the party leadership.
Asserting she was "proud, unapologetic" and does not repent her role in the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, Bharti said she is ready to face whatever punishments come her way as she fights for the construction of Ram temple.
The Water Resources Minister was speaking after the Supreme Court allowed the CBI'S plea seeking trail under "conspiracy" charges against BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and her in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.
She dismissed the conspiracy charges.
"There was no conspiracy. Everything was in the open. I took part in Ram temple campaign with pride and confi- dence. I had given up the post of Chief Minister for the sake of the tri-colour.
"I will do whatever it takes to see the Ram temple is constructed...ram temple will be built, koi maai ka laal use rok nahi sakta (no one has the power to stop it from being built)," Bharti said, adding she was present at the mosque site on December 6, 1992.
Hitting out at the Congress for seeking her resignation, Bharti referred to the 1984 anti-sikh riots and claimed that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had sought to justify the killings post the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
"When thousands of Sikhs died in the riots, Sonia Gandhi was at the house of her husband. Rajiv was trying to justify the massacre.
"So, can we say she was part of a conspiracy? The Congress has no moral right to seek my resignation," she said.
At the same time, Bharti said she is not the type of a person who want to sticks to any post and recalled she had quit chief ministership in Madhya Pradesh over a decade ago after a court convicted her in a case involving the national flag.
"I gave up the chief minister's post after a court convicted me. In this (Ayodhya) case, the trial is yet to begin. The charges are yet to be proved," she said but added, "The post of a minister is too small for me." NEW DELHI: Top BJP leaders on Wednesday discussed the political and legal fallout of the Supreme Court verdict on the Babri mosque demolition that has come as a setback to the party's sidelined veterans including L K Advani.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, union ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu were huddled for two hours at Modi's residence but a senior party leader played down the meeting's significance, saying it had a number of issues, including the Kashmir crisis, on its agenda.
The meeting was held against the backdrop of the apex court verdict allowing the CBI to put Advani, 89 , Murli Manohar Joshi, 83 , and Uma Bharti, 57 , on trial after restoring the criminal conspiracy charges against them.
A senior leader insisted that it was a pre-scheduled meeting.
It is understood that the apex court verdict and its implications –political as well as legal –were also discussed with the leadership exploring various options to deal with it.
Some BJP leaders said the party would not like the message to go out that the "heroes" of its most resonant Hindutva movement, spearheaded by Advani in early 90s, were tried for criminal conspiracy when it was in power at the Centre as well in Uttar Pradesh.
For the record, senior leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party will study in detail the court verdict before offering comments. Prasad asserted that BJP highly respects its leaders like Advani and Joshi.
The party has held the position that the demolition of mosque was not planned but a spontaneous act of agitating 'kar sevaks' and there was no conspiracy behind its razing on December 6, 1992 at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
The uneasy relationship that Modi and Shah share with Advani and Joshi also does not help the party. NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday said the guilty in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case should be punished.
"The Supreme Court has spoken. Let justice be done and the guilty punished, Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, reacting to a Supreme Court order restoring a criminal conspiracy charge against BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti.
The Congress also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that his ministers maintained a "high standard of morality". Uma Bharti is the Minister for Water Resources in the Modi Cabinet.
"The law is equal for everyone irrespective of stature, caste, creed, religion or region," he said.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also expressed satisfaction over the order and hoped that Modi would remember his "pronouncements" on morality. NEW DELHI: Air India is believed to have written to the Delhi Police asking why action has not been taken yet on the complaint filed against Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad who had assaulted a staffer of the airline last month.
Following the incident on March 23, an FIR has been registered in the matter.
Sources said Air India has written to the Delhi police on why there is delay in taking action against the MP.
The airline is understood to have said that the morale of the employees is being impacted as no action has been initiated against the MP despite nearly a month after the incident, they added.
There was no official comment from Air India or the Delhi Police.
The incident and subsequent flying ban on Gaikwad had generated a lot of political heat before the ban was removed.