17 years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Liberhan Commission’s findings are finally in the public domain and have been tabled in Parliament.

The report itself holds no surprises: debunking the BJP’s claims that the demolition was a spontaneous act by kar sevaks, it establishes instead that the act was elaborately pre-planned, and indicts top Sangh and BJP leaders for conceiving and executing the plan.

However, the report stops short of recommending any specific action against the perpetrators of the demolition. It also absolves the Narasimha Rao government at the Centre of failure to prevent the demolition, on the flimsy and unconvincing ground that the Centre could not act without a recommendation from the UP Governor.

If history will hold the saffron leadership responsible for the fascist act of demolition of the Babri Masjid and the communal trail of blood that preceded and followed it, history will also not forgive the Congress Government at the Centre for its culpability – through criminal inaction – for the demolition.

Even today, the UPA Government is playing politics with the Liberhan Report, showing scant concern for or commitment to secularism and justice. Its ‘Action Taken Report’ is shamefully lacking in any action taken or even intended to be taken against the culprits of the demolition.

The Liberhan episode once again highlights the Congress’ characteristic complicity and collusion with communal forces and trivialization of the entire agenda of secularism and justice. The Liberhan Report establishes what is a self-evident truth, recognized by the people of India: that the BJP and Sangh leadership perpetrated the demolition of the Babri Masjid. After such an indictment, impunity for the culprits of the demolition is shameful and unacceptable.

On 6 December this year, the anniversary of the infamous demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, CPI(ML) held protests all over the country, demanding real action against the culprits in the light of the findings of the Liberhan Report.