NAGPUR, FEB 19: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Rajesh Pilot feels that the apology on the Babri mosque demolition will not get the party any additional votes. Speaking to mediapersons at Nagpur on Thursday, he did not elaborate on the reasons for this but said, ``Political leaders must stop speaking the language of votes if democracy is to be strengthened''.Pilot was here to campaign for Congress candidates Vilas Muttemwar (Nagpur) and Chitralekha Bhosale (Ramtek). He admitted that it was incorrect to blame and penalise only Narasimha Rao for the Babri demolition. ``It was the collective reponsibility of the entire cabinet. More responsibility rested on Rao, of course, because he was the prime minister,'' he said.
He stressed that demolition of the mosque was owing to ``a total failure of the Central government,'' and added, ``it was the sole responsibility of the home minister to keep the nation informed about the situation at Ayodhya''. He recalled that three days before theincident, he had warned the Lok Sabha about the situation after a visit to Lucknow as minister for communications. After the demolition, Vajpayee had admitted on the floor of the House that Pilot had tried to sound warning bells about Ayodhya. Pilot denied that the apology was being offered only six years after the incident. ``Two days after the demolition, in my speech in the Lok Sabha, I had accepted that the Central government was as much to blame as the BJP government in UP,'' he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
