Tens of thousands take to streets over Ayodhya issue
HARDLINE GROUP VHP SAYS WILL NOT CEDE INCH OF LAND FOR ANYTHING BUT RAM TEMPLE
Tens of thousands of Hindu hardliners rallied yesterday to press their demand for a temple to be built at a disputed Indian holy site where an ancient mosque was razed in 1992.
Huge crowds of saffronclad protesters, some waving swords and chanting “Praise Be to Ram”, massed in Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh state where right-wing Hindu groups want a grand temple to their deity constructed.
Organisers had expected 300,000 demonstrators to attend rallies in Ayodhya and two other Indian cities, and busloads of protesters were still arriving into the afternoon.
Security measures were beefed up, with some 5,000 additional police deployed to protest areas, especially in Ayodhya.
Many Hindus believe a spot there marks the birthplace of Ram and that a medieval mosque that stood there for 460 years was only built after the destruction of an earlier temple. Hindu hardliners reduced the Babri Mosque to rubble in 1992, kicking off riots across India that left thousands dead, most of them Muslims. ■
The site remains a flashpoint between Hindus and India’s sizeable Muslim minority and the show of force by hardliners comes two weeks before the 26th anniversary of the mosque’s destruction.
Call for new law
Huge banners bearing images of the mosque being torn down by sledgehammer-wielding radicals hung at the protest, where hardline leaders called for parliament to pass a law allowing for the temple’s construction.
The temple controversy has been tied up in courts for decades but some groups are agitating to make it a campaign issue ahead of general elections in the next six months. More than 2,000 died in riots after the mosque was torn down.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Sunday said they will not cede an inch of land for anything but a Ram temple and demanded from the Sunni Waqf Board that they withdraw their case over distribution of the disputed land as ordered by the Allahabad High Court (HC).
Champat Rai, International Vice President of the outfit, told supporters at Ayodhya the issue is non-negotiable for Hindus.