Jaswant Singh, foreign minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, has asked Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to take moral responsibility for the attack on the Ram temple and resign.
Addressing a crowded press conference in New Delhi, Singh said the incident was a result of the soft handling of terrorists by the government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"Patil says that investigations into the attack are on, but his deputy says the UP government is responsible for the security lapse. They should first talk to each other before issuing a statement," Singh said.
"We in the Bharatiya Janata Party demand that the government should lay the full facts before the people of India because the terrorists had managed to reach the Sita Rasoi in a complex, which is heavily guarded by security personnel," Singh continued.
"I would like to know why did the director general of UP police ordered the withdrawal of policemen from the security cordon a couple of days before the incident," Singh said.
Asked why Advani did not resign when he was the home minister and attacks took place on the Akshardham temple and Parliament, Singh said, "As far as Parliament is concerned, the speaker of Lok Sabha is responsible for the security of the complex. I would like to say that Akshardham does not have the same status as the Ram temple," Singh said.
"The sentiments of the Hindu community is linked to this place and hence, we cannot equate the two," Singh explained.
The BJP announced that it will hold demonstrations in various parts of the country to express their anger against the attack on the Ram temple except Gujarat that has been ravaged by floods.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 10 lakh to be distributed among those police personnel who were injured during the exchange of firing with the five terrorists who were eventually gunned down.
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