VHP yatra may come handy to SP and BJP

Visions of confrontation-bound Ayodhya in 1991 at the beginning of the Ram temple movement have been revived with the Uttar Pradesh government banning a religious rally by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) between August 25 and September 13.

This rally, known as ''Chaurasi Kosi Yatra'' is a sort of pilgrimage that is traditionally taken out in April and May by sadhus and saints, and encompasses six districts - Faizabad, Barabanki, Gonda, Ambedkarnagar, Basti and Bahraich.

On Saturday August 17, a delegation of the VHP-led by Ashok Singhal, had met the Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow ostensibly to seek the government's permission to take out this yatra. Interestingly, never in the past have leaders of the VHP met anyone from the SP publicly and sought this kind of permission. It is learnt that proper appointment had been taken for this meeting and sources go the extent of saying that the Samajwadi Party chief and his son met the VHP leaders purely as a diplomatic gesture. Later the VHP too had described that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.

However, a day later the state government announced that it had not given permission to the VHP for taking out this yatra, and as a result the VHP came out with a strong statement that it will go ahead with the proposed yatra come what may, effectively setting the stage for a confrontation reminiscent of those days in 1991 when kar sevaks were bent upon laying a siege to Ayodhya and Mulayam Singh Yadav as the then Chief Minister had famously claimed that even a bird could not fly into Ayodhya.

Ashok Singhal later said that he and other VHP leaders were “shocked” when they came to know of the government's decision. He warned UP government of “adverse consequences” if it used force to enforce the ban. Singhal also hinted that a leader representing Muslims in the SP had showed his displeasure over the Yadav-VHP meeting and that Yadav had apparently succumbed under pressure. Singhal's reference was to Mohd Azam Khan, a senior minister in the state government. Khan had publicly expressed his disapproval over the meeting itself, saying that it had sent wrong signals to the Muslim community.

VHP leader and former Union minister Swami Chinmayananda went a step further and said in Faizabad that the Akhilesh government was “being run and controlled by Azam Khan, under whose pressure the government is bound to take decisions against the Hindu sentiments.”

The VHP now claims that its activists and sadhus from across the country have started to move towards Ayodhya. “We are ready for confrontation with the state government. Thousands will perform the Parikrama and the ban order does not matter to us,” he said.

The VHP also says that such a parikrama can be held by sadhus at any time of the year, and it cites the example of the Govardhan parikrama in Braj (Mathura-Vrindavan), Kamadgiri parikrama in Chitrakoot and Tirumalai parikrama in Andhra Pradesh.