Although they took differing positions over the Liberhan Commission report in the Lok Sabha, all opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, cutting across party lines, slammed the government and staged a walkout over the issue of climate change, alleging that India’s settled position on the issue had been changed ahead of the Copenhagen talks.
The Left parties and the BJP joined hands to criticise the government on it’s alleged pro-West stance on the issue. Environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh, who will leave for Copenhagen in three days, denied the allegations and claimed: "There is no compromise on India's interest."
In the Lok Sabha, however, the BJP found itself isolated as it defended itself on the Babri Masjid demolition issue. BJP president Rajnath Singh said the Liberhan commission had drafted a “political document for character assassination”. But the Left and Samajwadi Party, which supported the BJP-led walk out on climate change in the Upper House, slammed both the Congress and the BJP for the demolition of the mosque.
In the Rajya Sabha, a united opposition tried to corner the government after Ramesh announced a voluntary commitment of the government to reduce emission intensity by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020. Calling this a “bad strategy”, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said: “We have opened all our cards. Our disclosure has become a baseline for further negotiations. Even our negotiators appear to be sulking."
Soon, the CPI(M) joined the onslaught, smelling US pressure behind this announcement. CPI(M ) politburo member and leader in the RS, Sitaram Yechury, said this was evident from the White House statement of December 4 which said China and India have set a target to reduce carbon intensity. Yechury also wondered whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Copenhagen was also under pressure.
Attacking the government on its new “flexibility” and alleging the minister had “altered the position substantially", the BJP, CPI(M), CPI, SP and AIADMK staged a walkout.
Ramesh even offered to “re-look” into the commitment on emission intensity reduction if it leads to denial of electricity to the masses.
In Lok Sabha, however, it was a different picture. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said, “it was a joint conspiracy of the BJP and the Congress to demolish the Babri Masjid”.
The Congress, for the first time since the demolition of the Masjid, defended then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. The first speaker of the Congress—Jagdambika Pal—said President’s Rrule can’t be imposed to prevent a situation. It is only used as a remedial measure.
While demanding the BJP either apologise or own up responsibility for the demolition, CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta asked, “Wwhy did the central government (led by Congress) take no steps to prevent the unlocking of the complex? Or did they allow it to take away the wind out of another party?”
Rajnath Singh came down heavily on Justice Liberhan for allegedly baseless and wrong facts. He also tried to appease the RSS and reiterated BJP’s commitment to build a Ram Temple at Ayodha. He stuck to his point that the demolition of the Masjid was a spontaneous action. “It happened as religious people didn’t get justice.”
