Govt rejects Oppn demand for her resignation saying charge sheet can't be the criteria
Union Minister Uma Bharti again hogged the limelight as she went into her old firebrand mode. "I can take any punishment for Ganga, Tiranga and Ayodhya," she said all set to go to the temple town, on a day the Supreme Court ruled on Babri Masjid demolition.
However, by evening, her plans changed. After a meeting of the BJP core group, she cancelled her visit to Ayodhya, saying her personal visit was being politicised.
The ruling gave ammunition to the Opposition to demand that Bharti, the only one in the government to face trial, be removed. The government and the BJP, turned down the demand. "If charge sheets were a basis, just calculate how many Congress chief ministers, there are very few left, will have to go," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters.
He said the Babri case was going on since 1993 and no new situation had emerged after the apex court order. "So there will be no change in the situation which was prevailing," Jaitley said.
On her part, Bharti said there was no conspiracy involved. "Koi saajish nahi thi, sab kuch khullam khulla tha. Mera man, vachan, karam ek the. Mere man main sirf ek baat thi aur wo tha Ram Mandir. (There was no conspiracy, every thing was in the open. My consicence, words and deeds were one. I had only Ram temple in my mind)," she said.
In the evening, senior ministers including Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari besides BJP president Amit Shah went into a huddle at the Prime Minister's residence. The BJP appeared unperturbed by the court ruling saying it was not a setback for the party. The Ram Mandir issue, a core Hindutva agenda of the party, would again be in the spotlight.
Bharti, the saffron-clad sanyasin, made the most of it to reaffirm her political roots. "When 10,000 Sikhs were killed (in 1984), Sonia was in the house of Rajiv (Gandhi) then does it mean that she was part of the conspiracy? Congress has no moral right to ask questions," Bharti said.
She also said that Ram temple will be built soon and the government will make sure that it happens and asserted the importance of the Ram Janmbhoomi movement in the rise of the BJP in the country.
Recalling her decision to quit as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in 2004 after a case was filed against her for allegedly disrespecting the national flag (she was acquitted later), Bharti said: "I had left the CM chair for the pride of the tricolour. I can take any punishment for Ganga, Tiranga (Tricolor) and Ayodhya."
"Yes, I was there (Ayodhya) on December 6 but I would not like to comment beyond it, rest of it is a matter for the lawyers to talk in the court," she said.
"Let me be hanged or jailed, I have no problem, I only want to see a Ram temple (in Ayodhya). I have never expressed regret," she said.
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