I ordered Babri demolition: Ram Vilas Vedanti

Lucknow: Former BJP MP Ram Vilas Vedanti added fuel to the Ayodhya fire on Friday when he owned up responsibility for the demolition of the Babri mosque in December 1992.

He offered “no regrets”.and said he was “ready to be hanged” for the act that has remained one of the most thorny issues dividing the Hindus and Muslims for the past 25 years.

Dr Vedanti’s controversial remarks, in which he also implicated BJP stalwarts L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi for came on the day About 50 Muslim ‘kar sevaks’ (volunteers), belonging to the Sri Ram Nirman Muslim Kar Sevak Sangh, also created a flutter when they reached Ayodhya with a truck full of bricks meant for the construction of the temple. The truck has been stopped at Naya Ghat chowki, circle officer Arvind Pandey said.

Majority of the ‘kar sevaks’ came from Gorakhpur, Basti and Maharajganj districts.

Dr Vedanti told a news channel that it was on his instruction that the ‘kar sevaks’ had demolished the mosque on December 6, 1992. “Mahant Avaidynath and Ashok Singhal (both deceased) were with me when we got the structure demolished. L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were trying to bring the volunteers under control,” he said.

Mahant Avaidyanath was also a former BJP MP and the spiritual guru of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Mr Ashok Singhal was one of the pioneers of the temple movement and the president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Dr Vedanti is among the accused in the Babri demolition case and his admission to the crime is expected to add heat to the controversy.

The Muslim kar sevaks were keen on visiting temples, including the the disputed territory identified by Hindus as birthplace of Rama, but the district administration prevented them from entering the area.