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Leader linked to mosque's destruction

India's prime minister conspired in a mob's destruction of a centuries-old mosque that led to nationwide Hindu-Muslim rioting in 1992, a high-ranking former ally alleged on Friday.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is known as the moderate face of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to prominence after the destruction of the 16-century Babri Mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state.

Although senior party colleagues, including Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, have been charged with inciting the mob that destroyed the 16th-century mosque, Vajpayee had never been named.

"I will rip off the mask of moderation worn by Vajpayee. He is a hardliner," said Kalyan Singh, who was the BJP's head of government in Uttar Pradesh in 1992.

The prime minister's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

"It was a pre-planned, deep-rooted conspiracy to demolish the disputed structure," Singh told The Associated Press. "Lal Krishna Advani ... and others conspired on Dec. 6, 1992 and it had the patronage, support and blessings of Atal Bihari Vajpayee."

"These leaders betrayed me," said Singh, who is now president of the National Revolution Party.

A federal government lawyer, addressing a committee investigating the mosque destruction, on Thursday blamed Singh's administration for failing in its constitutional duty to protect the mosque.

Singh's state government did not call out troops to head off hundreds of thousands of Hindus converging on Ayodhya after a national campaign by Advani and other BJP leaders aimed at building a Hindu temple on the site where the mosque stood.

Singh alleged that leaders of the National Volunteers Association were also part of the conspiracy. The group is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, and insists that India is a Hindu nation, rather than the secular one enshrined in the constitution.

Vajpayee and Advani are members of the National Volunteers Association.

The World Hindu Council, whose leaders say Muslims should not live in India, is a close affiliate of the national party and the volunteers association.

Singh said the association had told him in advance that volunteers would only perform prayers at a ceremony on Dec. 6, 1992. But the ceremony turned into a riot.

The BJP denied Singh's allegation, saying the destruction of the mosque was "a spontaneous reaction of volunteers."

Vinay Katiyar, president of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, said Singh's statement was "political propaganda. They (BJP leaders) were in no way involved with the demolition of the mosque."

Muslim groups demanded more details on Vajpayee's role.

"The allegations ... are of serious nature. They should come clean and clear their stands as to what exactly happened that day," said Sajjad Nomani, spokesman for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

A court case over who has the right to the land has been going on for decades. Government-hired archaeologists are trying to determine if a Hindu temple lay under the site of the demolished mosque. Its report is due in early July, but is not expected to be ready.
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