Narasimha Rao Performed Puja during Demolition of Babri Masjid: Book

Nayar said that when there were riots in the wake of the demolition, Rao invited some senior journalists to his house.

"He was at pains to explain to us how his government had made every arrangement to stop the demolition. Rao said he was betrayed by the UP chief minister Kalyan Singh".

When asked how a small temple could have been erected overnight at the site when the Centre was at the helm of affairs having dismissed the Kalyan Singh government, Rao said he had attempted to send a contingent of CRPF by plane to Lucknow but they were unable to land because of bad weather.

Besides, Nayar said Rao did not explain the "inaction" of Central forces in Ayodhya, but assured him that the temple would not be there "for long".

"Rao's government will always be held responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The curious thing was that he was conscious of such an eventuality but did virtually nothing to avert it", Nayar said.

Once earlier Rao invited senior journalists to acquaint them with the efforts his government was making to reach a settlement. When Nayar asked him which stage they had reached, Rao replied "somewhere," but "there was no serious edge to his voice".

Nayar recalled that soon after, he witnessed the gathering of the storm with thousands of kar sevaks descending upon Ayodhya and the RSS and the BJP leaders converging on the city.