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Union Home Minister L K Advani on Tuesday asserted that any solution to the dispute in Ayodhya could either be through a negotiated settlement or through an appropriate legislation.
"For the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Ayodhya issue is a national issue. We will not allow vested interests to give it a communal colour," the Union home minister told the Liberhan Commission.
"Litigation is no answer to the problem. We propose to do it through legislation," he said.
He pointed out that the BJP had expressed the view that the site where Ram was supposedly born (in Ayodhya) be handed over to Hindus for building the Ram temple either through a negotiated settlement or by legislation.
According to Advani, the Allahabad high court had as far back as 1955 expressed regret that the case had dragged on for so many years and directed that 'the matter be decided forthwith'.
He said even four decades later, the issue remained unresolved.
He said that the karsevaks might have 'adopted a wrongful (demolition) course' having felt that the temple could not be constructed by the leaders of the Ayodhya movement by the due process of law.
He indicated that if the karseva had been allowed before the demolition, the people's anger, which had exploded on December 6, 1992 could have been prevented.
Advani described the demolition of the Babri Masjid as 'unfortunate and painful' and also disagreed with media reports, which emphasised that he had rejoiced along with senior party colleague Dr Murli Manohar Joshi following the demolition.
He pointed out that in November 1992, the BJP had tried hard to persuade the then P V Narasimha Rao government to approach the Allahabad high court seeking an early verdict on the acquisition of the land (for the temple).
"But we failed to persuade the government," he said.
He agreed with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's that 'the wrongs of a medieval past cannot be righted in modern times with similar wrongs'.
Asked by the prosecution counsel Anupam Gupta to what extent he had authored the white paper on the demolition released in April, 1993, Advani said he had not authored it but it had been produced by scholars and it was an 'earnest attempt' to point out the lacunae in the then government's white paper on the issue.
Contending that he had felt 'dejected and downcast' following the demolition of the mosque in Ayodhya, he said the BJP had urged the Rajiv Gandhi government before 1989 that it should approach the Ayodhya problem like it did the Somnath issue.
He said, "The BJP firmly believes that the construction of the temple is the vindication of our heritage and national self-respect" but, as stressed in the party's manifesto, wanted a solution either by a negotiated settlement or through legislation.
The commission will reconvene at 1430 hours on Wednesday.
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