The Trishul Digs Up A Few 'Facts'

VHP leader Ashok Singhal recently dropped a bombshell when he announced the report of the deep penetration radar survey done at Ayodhya, which covered over 3,900 sq metres. According to Singhal, the report clearly showed the existence of a temple at the disputed site on which Babri Masjid stood. Singhal also claimed that the report was distributed to all 26 parties involved in the Ayodhya title suit, despite the court’s advice that the findings be kept confidential. Singhal was regretful that he had divulged this secret report to the press, but he said: "The findings are in our favour."

The Committee for the Rebuilding of Babri Masjid is clearly upset over Singhal’s statements and has called it delibeately misleading. The text of the report made public by Tojo Vikas, the Canadian firm conducting the survey on behalf of the ASI, does not use the word "temple" anywhere in their report and Singhal has only jumped to certain conclusions. The report does mention that there are certain ‘anomalies’ under the surface ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 metres which could be remains of an ancient structure like pillars, foundation walls, floorings etc over a large area. But to conclusively find out the exact nature of this anomaly, detailed "ground truthing" has to be conducted, which is yet to be done.