The BJP government, headed by Kalyan Singh, failed to deploy adequate central forces to protect the disputed structure at Ayodhya, the Centre told the Liberhan Commission today.The Centre’s counsel, however, also admitted that neither the Congress-led union government nor the state government had any contingency plan to meet the eventuality of a demolition. ‘‘In such a situation (on December 6, 1992) which all of us agree was sensitive, the state government failed in its duty to deploy the stationed central forces,’’ Centre’s counsel Lala Ram Gupta said.With no contingency plan in place to prevent the frenzied crowd and Kar Sevaks from reaching the disputed structure, Gupta said that the state government failed in its constitutional duty and so did the Centre. Both the Central and state governments should have prepared a contingency plan to avoid resorting to firing to protect the disputed structure, he said.And even if firing was to have been resorted to, there should have been a plan to avoid a bloodbath.The counsel said the Centre had thought that any use of force like resorting to firing would have serious consequences. Most of the witnesses before the Commission had maintained that there was sufficient force and a wall was built to protect the structure, said Gupta. However, when the kar sevaks and the frenzied crowd broke all the cordons and rushed towards it, whatever security plan was made proved insufficient in the absence of any contingency plan.Even when the kar sevaks had climbed the domes of the disputed structure after security measures failed, the Chief Minister, after consulting his top officials, asked for using all types of force except firing, Gupta said.The para-military force could have reached the disputed site only by resorting to firing which was not allowed by the District Administration, he said, and because of large scale obstruction on its way, it could only reach up to the Saket Degree College.The Centre’s counsel agreed to the Commission’s suggestion that the then Union Home Secretary Madhav Godbole had prepared a contingency plan with respect to the imposition of President’s rule in the state under Article 356 and ‘‘there was no contingency plan for the security of the structure.’’On the issue of assault on media persons at Ayodhya, Gupta said the Commission cannot go into it as its terms of reference only assume that there was attack on media.Meanwhile, the Congress accused BJP of ‘‘repeatedly shifting’’ its stand on the demolition issue, and squarely blamed the Kalyan Singh government for the demolition.‘‘For political reasons, BJP is repeatedly shifting its stand on the issue of demolition of Babri Masjid,’’ party spokesman Anand Sharma said when asked about Centre’s submission. Asked if the BJP was passing the buck on Kalyan Singh, who had left the party, Sharma said it was not the first time they were making such statments on the demolition.About the responsibility of the Narasimha Rao government, Sharma said that it had suggested that the area be handed over to central forces but the idea was rejected by the state government.
