Wednesday, April 26 2006 11:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The late Prime Minister, P V Narasimha Rao, much maligned within Congress and outside after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, has lamented that his colleagues in the party and the government had decided to make a 'scapegoat' of him for political and 'vote-earning considerations' after the tragedy.

Generally reticent in his lifetime about speaking against his critics, especially those in the party, he has, for the first time, come out in detail about his colleagues' attitude towards him after the demolition.

"I tried to explain all these things to my colleagues. But on their side also political and vote-earning considerations definitely prevailed and they had already madeup their minds that one person was to be made historically responsible for the tragedy in case the issue ended up in tragedy," he said.

"If there had been success (as there definitely seemed to be in the initial months) they would of course have readily shared the credit or appropriated it to themselves. So, they were playing either for success, or an alibi through a scapegoat in case of failure! It was a perfect strategy," he said.

Rao had penned these thoughts after he lost Prime Ministeship in 1996 and put these in his book 'Ayodhya 6 December 1992' which he wanted to be published posthumously. The 318-page book, published by Penguin, has recently hit the stands.

"They could loudly proclaim later that the Muslim vote did not come to the Congress after the demolition solely because of me," Rao said.

Rao, who was denied Lok Sabha ticket in 1998 by the then Congress President Sitaram Kesri for his 'failure' to protect the Masjid, said it remained to be seen whether the future will vindicate him in this regard.

"If it does, I shall, of course, feel happy", he said.

Seeking to absolve his government from the blame, he squarely put the responsibility at the door of BJP and contended that no prudent President or Prime Minister would have gone ahead and clamped central rule in Uttar Pradesh under the circumstances obtaining on December 6, 1992.

At the same time, the late premier, known for his scholarhip, said the book was 'not intended as an exercise in self-righteousness or justification of anything done or not done then' and emphasises the complete separation of religious matters from political issues, particular aimed at short-term electoral benefits.

He said the very fact that the Ayodhya issue had a regular knack of becoming very active a few months before every elections was 'not an unintended coincidence'.