New Delhi: Home Minister L K Advani on December 27 said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not join the Ayodhya movement to exploit the "Hindu psyche" or to create a "Hindu Vote" bank as it is impossible to consolidate the community into one vote bank.

"Hindu society is not monolithic. The varieties of castes and creed, linguistic groups and the tribal sections are totally distinct from the rest.

"The fact that unlike other religious groups there is no one prophet or book to command the allegiance of entire society, which makes it difficult for any one to think of a Hindu Vote bank," he told the Liberhan Commission probing demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. He was deposing for the second continuous day on December 27.

Replying to an intense questioning by All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) counsel Yousuf H Muchhala about the purpose behind BJP joining the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) temple movement, Advani asserted that the party as per its Palmpur resolution in 1989 joined it to "strengthen the cultural nationalism".

When asked whether he was aware of the fall out of the movement on the country's secular fabric and did he know that as per official records on December 6, 1992, in and around Ayodhya itself 16 people belonging to Muslim community were killed, 300 houses were ransacked, 23 mosques and 19 mazars were damaged, Advani said he was not aware of it.

Had it been in the official records, the fact could have been mentioned in the White Paper brought out by the then Centre, he said, "If it is true I strongly condemn it," Advani said.

PTI