NEW DELHI: The Destruction of the shrine in Ayodhya could have been avoided had Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao heeded repeated ad categorical warnings from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) over the past few days feel Bureau officials.
The officials revealed that they had specifically told the Prime Minister that the mosque would be razed to the ground minutes after the kar sevaks stormed the structure on Sunday morning. Despite this it still took six-and a-half hours and the destruction of all three domes before the Union Cabinet finally met.
Officials of the Bureau a large contingent of which was deployed in Faizabad to monitor the ground situation at Ayodhya on Nov.24 have been giving precise and detailed reports every hour via fax to IB Director V.G. Vaidya in New Delhi.
It may be noted that the IB Director is one of the few Government officials who does not need an appointment to see the Prime Minister.
Sources said that since recently the team at the spot had been reporting that the kar sevaks despite the public posturing of BJP and VHP leaders had planned to storm the shrine on Dec.6
The reports stated without leaving room for ambiguity that the kar sevaks would do as much damage to the shrine as possible with the aim of demolishing the structure.
The Government acted on the warnings by sending several missives to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister expressing its concern and asking him to upgrade the security arrangements.
Even on Dec.6 the IB control room in the Capital was the scene of hectic activity The earliest reports following the initial storming of the shrine were that the security forces and the local administration had abandoned their responsibility and that the administration would impose curfew only at night (subsequent events bore the reports out).
Article extracted from this publication >> December 18, 1992
