Dr Subramanian Swamy, who played a key role in the legal battle for the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, spoke to The Daily Guardian, about the bhoomi pujan. Swamy said that he is not bitter about not being invited, but he did what he had to do without any expectations. He also countered criticism from the Opposition on the timing of the bhoomi pujan and whether the PM should be attending the event. And of course, he gave an update on the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Excerpts:
Q: Are you upset at not being invited for the bhoomi pujan?
A: My not being invited for bhoomi pujan doesn’t matter. Frankly, I fought the fight because Ashok Singhal asked me to do so in 2015 when the case was not being heard in any court. However, I have been asking from 1 January this year that now since we have got the Ram temple clearance from the courts, Ashok Singhal should be given the Bharat Ratna. But this did not happen.
Q: How did you get involved in the case?
A: My commitment was to Ashok Singhal. I never participated in the Ram temple movement before that though when Chandrashekhar became the PM, he told me to talk to (Syed) Shahabuddin, who was the chairman of the Babri Masjid action committee, and Chandrasekhar said, the only person he thinks, as a friend is you. So, I talked to Shahabuddin and after much discussion, he agreed that if you can prove that there was a temple below, then he said that I being a good Muslim will never allow a masjid to be built on top of it. He added that I myself will go and break it. This is recorded on the white paper, which the Narasimha Rao government subsequently released.
Later, in 2015, Ashok Singhal called me. He told me that now I have come to the conclusion that Ram Temple is not going to be built in my lifetime because no hearing was held for Ram Temple in 2010 till 2015, so he said our people also don’t seem to be interested and he was very disappointed. He said that I won›t be around much longer, but you have to complete the task. He called a press conference and said I am handing all the Ram Mandir litigation to Dr Subramaniam Swamy and a year later, he passed away. So having given a promise, for me it was Jaan jaye par vachan na jaaye (My word is more valuable than my life). Then, the problem was how do I get involved in the Supreme Court case because all the other parties, including the BJP asked: Who is he? What does he have to do with all this? He has no connection to this.
It was then that a lady advocate, who wants to remain anonymous, told me that you should go by the route of fundamental rights. Until then, it was being contested as a property case between the Sunni waqf board and Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Smiti. Therefore, the Allahabad High Court also divided the property and said that you take some and you take some.That’s what the Supreme Court would have also done. The matter came before Justice Chelameswar. He ordered that I should post my submission in the main matter. So that’s how we got the hearing to court. I introduced this idea of fundamental rights and the court began hearing the case on a day-to-day hearing.
However, soon after I got a call from Amit Shah that there is a meeting at his house in the evening and I should come. I went there and he said you should get out of this case now.
Q: Why would Amit Shah want you out of the Ram Janmabhoomi case?
A: He wanted me out of the case. There were other witnesses also; RSS people were there, VHP people were there, as were BJP office bearers. He said this in front of them. I asked him in what capacity are you asking me? He replied I am the president of the party. I then pointed out that Ashok Singhal told me to do it (take up the case), you never asked me to do this. So, you have no authority to tell me (to drop it). I will go according to what I promised Ashok Singhal and I am not getting out of this.
And it was this idea of fundamental rights based on faith, which cannot be questioned, which became the main argument, and that’s how we got the judgement. In the meantime, our government, acting on the advice of Gurumurthy, filed an application with the SC stating that please give the government permission to denationalise the land which Narasimha Rao had nationalised.
Q: This is fast becoming a saga of the Hindu Divided Family.
A: (laughs) Had that happened there would have been no Ram Janmabhoomi temple construction. But fortunately, the SC ignored that application and it never came up for consideration. And in the meantime, the judgement in favour of the temple came.
Q: From this conversation at least, it doesn’t look as if you are bitter at not being invited?
A: One thing I should make clear is that I have known Modi for a long time. In 2005, I was almost the first person who said you should be the PM and I still believe that he should be the PM. As far as him being the PM is concerned, he has my total support. On my last birthday, the entire sadhu community of Ayodhya and the entire city turned out for me because they all had only one hope that it is only I who can get Ram Mandir built. And it happened. Therefore, today why should I go when they are only putting up foundation stone? That’s an official function. I will wait till the temple is built and I will go there and have a look. I have a large number of friends and associates there. If today I were to go, there will be a counter demonstration of popularity, which would be very embarrassing for a lot of people.
Q: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has said this is an inauspicious time for bhoomi pujan.
A: I don’t know what philosophy Digvijaya Singh follows. I once asked Shankracharya that everybody consults the panchang (astrology) for appropriate time. Should I also consult panchang? He said if you are satisfied that you are doing a good deed, then don’t look at it.If you are doing a bad deed, any day is bad. So, I believe God will decide the date. Whatever date they have selected, I have not paid any attention to whether it is auspicious or not. There are so many sadhus involved in this and if they got it wrong and only Digvijaya Singh got it right, there is only a difference of opinion.
Q: Finally, what is the update on the Sushant Singh Rajput case.
A: I spoke to Nitish Kumar about bringing in the CBI and he agreed on one condition that if the family agrees; and the family has agreed. You have to have a CBI inquiry. After all, this is a crime that is committed in Mumbai and the police which are investigating have a very close proximity to Bollywood, they go to their parties, have fun and games there; and politicians are also involved. Why is there no FIR even 50 days after the crime? And you decided to go 11 km for postmortem when you had Leela Hospital just 2 km away? The ambulances had come from both hospitals.
Q: What about Aditya Thackeray’s involvement?
A: What about the fact that a son of a very important politician is involved in this?