61-year-old Uma Bharti is the 19th accused to depose before the court in the Babri Masjid demolition case
Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Thursday appeared in person before a special court in Lucknow conducting trial in the 1992 Babri mosque demolition case, accusing the then Congress-led central government of framing her due to political vendetta.
Ms Bharti alleged that the then central government got an FIR lodged against her and others in the demolition case in order to fulfil its political intentions, and on the basis of fabricated evidence they were falsely implicated under political pressure.
Rebutting the evidence produced by the prosecuting agency, CBI, she said that the witnesses deposed against her due to political enmity.
Ms Bharti was deposing before special CBI judge SK Yadav under section 313 of the code of criminal procedure or CrPC. Under these proceedings, the trial court enables the accused to plead for his or her innocence and rebut prosecution evidence.
She said that she would produce her defense evidence. In this case, there are 32 accused.
Calling herself a "Ram Bhakt", senior BJP leader Uma Bharti asserted that she took part in the (Ram Mandir) campaign with full faith and with a feeling of devotion towards Lord Ram.
Ms Bharti said, "As far as we are concerned, I am a Ram Bhakt (a devotee of Lord Ram). Everyone has faith in Lord Ram, and I too have faith in Him. I took part in the campaign with full devotion and with a feeling of devotion for Lord Ram. And, for this, I will always consider myself 'gauravshaali' (fortunate). I will always be proud that I took part in this campaign."
Ms Bharti added that she was a second-time MP when she took part in the temple campaign.
She also asserted, "I will be satisfied and proud over the fact that my life is ready for Ganga, tiranaga (tricolour), gau (cow), gareeb (poor), naari (women) and Ram."
The special CBI court is currently recording the statements of 32 accused under CrPC section 313 (court''s power to examine the accused), a stage in the trial that follows the examination of prosecution witnesses.
As the senior BJP leader came out of the court, she said, "I consider the law of India as Vedas, the court as the temple and the judge as a form of God. Whatever, I said before him, I cannot comment on it, because judgment on those things is yet to come. Hence, whatever case is going on inside (the court), on those statements, I have nothing to say anything."
"But, I would definitely say that this battle continued for a long time - 500 years. I doubt that there will be any such campaign in the entire world, which lasted for 5 centuries, and in those 5 centuries it only intensified. And eventually, the judgement of the Supreme Court came. The way in which the judgement was welcomed by the people of India, it brightened the country's image in the world. As far as India is concerned, it is assumed that religious divide prevails here. But, the unity, which was seen after the judgment of the Supreme Court, it established a tradition of pride for India," Uma Bharti said.
"The grand culmination of Ayodhya case through the judgement of the Supreme Court, the 500-year-old campaign and acceptance of the judgement by the people is overwhelming, and a matter of pride for us," she added.
The 61-year-old BJP leader is the 19th accused to depose before the court in the over 27-year-old case.
Thirteen other accused, including former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and senior BJP leaders MM Joshi and Kalyan Singh are yet to be examined at this stage.
Their lawyers have indicated to the CBI court that they prefer to appear through video conference.
The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished in December 1992 by 'kar sevaks' who claimed that an ancient Ram temple had stood on the same site. The CBI court is conducting day-to-day hearings to complete the trial by August 31, as directed by the Supreme Court.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)