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NCP chief Sharad Pawar in a massive claim has revealed that as the Ram Janmbhoomi movement gathered steam in 1992, senior BJP leader Vijaya Raje Scindia had assured then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao that nothing would happen to Babri Masjid and he believed her against the advice of his ministers.
Moreover, Days before the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao did not heed his ministers’ advice to not depend on the BJP’s assurance that nothing would happen to the mosque, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar .
As per PTI report, At the launch of senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury’s book ‘How Prime Ministers Decide’, Pawar, who was the defence minister at the time of the Babri Masjid demolition, said he along with then home minister and the home secretary was present at the meeting.
“There was a group of ministers and I was one of them… It was decided that the prime minister should call a meeting of leaders of the respective party,” the NCP chief said. In that meeting, Vijaya Raje Scindia had assured the prime minister that nothing would happen to the Babri Masjid,” he said.
Pawar said that while he, the home minister and home secretary felt anything could happen, Rao chose to believe Scindia.
“Vijaya Raje’s suggestion was accepted by Narasimha Rao. Personally, then Home Minister Shankarrao Chavan, then Home Secretary Madhav Godbole, and I — all three of us — suggested that don’t depend on the BJP leadership, anything can happen. But ultimately PM preferred to listen to these (BJP) leaders and we know what ultimately happened,” Pawar said.
