New Delhi, Jan. 15: Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and several BJP leaders, including the late Pramod Mahajan, wanted the "termination" of Narendra Modi's political career following the 2002 Godhra riots, according to a book by former BJP MP Praful Goradia.
In his soon-to-be-released autobiography, Fly Me to the Moon, the Hindutva hardliner who was witness to the December 1992 Babri Masjid demolition has also claimed that its razing involved the hand of "some professionals", not just kar sevaks.
Raised in Calcutta, Goradia has said many BJP leaders of the time were fiercely opposed to any defence of Modi, then Gujarat chief minister.
Goradia, an MP from Gujarat between 1998 and 2000, quit the BJP in September 2004 in protest against the decision to shelve Hindutva and adopt "development and nationalism" as its core issue at the Goa chintan bhaitak (brainstorming session). He lived in Calcutta for over three decades and worked with Duncans.
Dwelling on the 2002 riots that erupted after the Godhra train burnings, Goradia - then party spokesperson -has said he was one of Modi's most vociferous defenders at the time.
"It bears iteration here that there were many, even in the BJP, who were not only eager to disown him (Modi), but also desired the termination of his political career.
"While I was busy defending him on television, I received a phone call one morning. I couldn't identify the caller immediately, but the voice seemed to be that of an officer on special duty in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's office.
"He told me, 'Modi is no bhai or bhatija, no brother or nephew, of yours, why are you sticking up for him?' In other words, this was a warning from the topmost echelons of the party that I was jeopardising my political future by siding with Modi.
"There was an impression in Ahmedabad, as well as among Modi's sympathisers in Delhi, that Pramod Mahajan was antagonistic towards the lion of Gujarat.....
"I do not know if Mahajan had a hand in instigating the Prime Minister. In any case, Vajpayee, in his penchant for appearing fair and 'secular', did want to chide Modi for his commitment to nationalism," says the book.
Talking of the Babri demolition, Goradia has said that he was stationed at Sita ki Rasoi, a stone's throw from the mosque, along with L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, when the structure was brought down. His impression was the razing, more than being the work of fanatics, involved some "professionals". Goradia has not clarified who the so-called professionals were.
Recounting the demolition, he says: "Apparently unseen to the viewer, there was much more happening than what could be seen from outside. We learnt before long that there were other men at work inside the structure, attacking the rim with crowbars....
"It was no layman's task to demolish the huge thick wall. In fact, even when the structure's domes were being assaulted, the suspicion had been that professionals were on the job. A kar sevak would have been delighted at being photographed by the media. Yet, five press cameramen had been thrashed, as told to me by the wounded, two of whom I had met on the terrace of the Sita Ki Rasoi.
"Was the public works department, therefore, involved? It is difficult to assert this...."
