BJP moves EC against Cobrapost's Babri sting

Cobrapost expose said top BJP leaders knew about the conspiracy, call it pre-planned action

The Bhartiya Janta Party today moved the Election Commission against the sting operation conducted by investigative news portal Cobrapost surrounding the Babri Masjid demolition.

The portal in its expose said the 1992 demolition was pre-planned. It claimed the conspiracy was hatched at the level of two Hindu outfits, VHP and Shiv Sena, who provided training to their cadre months in advance.


"A Balidani Jatha, or suicide squad, was formed with the trained RSS workers," said a press-release posted on the website.

CobraPost said the expose shows meticulous planning of what seemed like a sudden frenzied event that brought down the Babri Masjid. It said that the facts gathered shows that top BJP leaders like L K Advani and the then UP chief minister Kalyan Singh were aware of the entire operation.

Media reports also said that expose claimed that the former Congress PM, P V Narasimha Rao was also knew about the planned demolition.

BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi accused the Congress of attempting to polarise the votes before the elections through the Cobrapost sting.

"These kinds of acts which the Congress is resorting to, is a conspiracy to vitiate the electoral atmosphere and polarise society at large," he said.

The party called the sting 'sponsored', adding that the timing of the expose was suspect.

"This has the potential to destroy communal harmony when the nation is in poll mode. The EC should seize such sensitive materials that could poison the election environment," Naqvi said.

The party has asked the Election Commission to stop its publication and telecast.



The VHP also labelled the sting operation a conspiracy with the eye on polls.

Hitting back at BJP's allegations, the Congress levelled the same allegations on BJP, saying it was an attempt by the BJP to divide the electorate into two factions.