New Delhi: The Congress stepped its demand for Union minister Uma Bharti to step down after a special CBI court in Lucknow ordered framing of conspiracy charges against her and BJP patriarchs LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.
“One of the accused, Uma Bharti is a Union Cabinet minister. Having been charge-sheeted, she must resign. Prime Minister must come forward and uphold the rule of law and the Constitution,” AICC in-charge of communications Randeep Surjewala said.
“Time for law of the land to deliver justice expeditiously,” he said. “Those who are guilty must be punished in accordance with the law of the land without any fear or favour,” Surjewala said.
Defending the party leaders, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu said they will come out “unscathed”. Naidu also noted that the NDA government did not move to withdraw the case against the top saffron leaders.
Another BJP leader and one of the accused, Vinay Katiyar, insisted that there was no conspiracy as the mosque was razed by a big crowd in the open. “It is not appropriate to charge a few persons with criminal conspiracy,” the one-time firebrand Hindutva leader and former UP BJP chief said.
Katiyar targeted Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav saying that a case should have been lodged against the former chief minister over the firing by police on ‘kar sewaks’ in Ayodhya in 1990.
He claimed he had not delivered a speech on December 6, 1992, when the 16th-century structure was demolished. He also claimed that the case had “reached” the judgment stage before the apex court gave its new ruling.
Bharti, along with BJP veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi among others, was charged by a special CBI court in Lucknow and also granted bail in the case.
The court framed charges under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code against the BJP leaders.
