New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who was in the Union Cabinet then, had written a letter to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao after the Babri mosque demolition saying he should not have allowed this to happen but got no response.
Gogoi mentions this in his autobiography “Turnaround: Leading Assam from the Front”, which chronicles his life in politics.
Gogoi, who was the Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Food and then the Minister of State (independent charge) for Food Processing Industry in the Narasimha Rao Cabinet from 1991, describes Rao as a modern man who initiated several reforms during his tenure.
“However, Rao did not have a hold over his party. I feel the way he handled the Babri mosque demolition was not appropriate. Breaking all conventions as a minister, I even wrote a letter telling him that he should not have allowed this to happen. He should have taken the leaders of the minority community into confidence. I was very critical as the demolition alienated the minorities from us. However, he did not respond to my letter,” he writes in the book, published by HarperCollins India.
Seeking a fourth consecutive term, Gogoi says he is no magician and has no magic wand but he can look back with satisfaction to his 15 years of governance though he does not claim to have scored a ten on ten.
In his memoir, the veteran Congressman says he wants history to judge these years.
“Can I look back in satisfaction today? In a sense, I would say yes. I do not claim to have score a ten on ten. All I say that a lot of ground has been covered. Records will substantiate the fact that I have not made any tall claims,” he writes in the book.