New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) While pinning the blame of the Babri Masjid demolition on Hindu rightwing groups, the Liberhan Commission has also lashed out at the "fanatical Muslim leadership" for "its failure to protest effectively against the events which were building up to a crescendo".

The voluminous report, running to more than 1,000 pages, indicted "selective Muslim leaders, obsessed with building personal or individual influence or following for enhancing their political influence for self gain". They were "mere bystanders" and "put forth a dismal performance".

"While the RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the BJP brought the temple construction movement to the front burner and caused it to boil over, the fanatic Muslim leadership making the counterclaim were either completely complacent and had no substantial or effective leadership or were simply incompetent," it stated.

Singling out the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), later the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee (AIBMAC), it said "the Muslim leadership did little to counter the latent fears stoked up by the RSS and VHP leadership and instead provided it with the opportunity to embark on what started out as a defensive strategy".

According to the report, tabled in parliament Tuesday: "It is impossible to fight a war or to recruit warriors without the presence of an adversary... The Muslim leadership wittingly or unwittingly fulfilled this requirement for the founders of the RSS and the VHP."

The Muslim leadership, the one-man commission has concluded, was "conspicuous by its absence".

It did little to "counter the distortions of history that were being bandied about by the Sangh Parivar to whip up the country into a frenzy".

The leadership's sins of omission had made the Sangh Parivar's task easier, Justice Liberhan has said in his conclusion while holding the organisations and individuals "guilty at a tertiary level for their failure to effectively champion the cause of their constituents, and of the neutrals, and for their failure as an effective democratic opposition".