The stage is gradually being set for a showdown between Uttar Pradesh’s Akhilesh Yadav government and the organisers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s proposed “84 Kosi Parikrama Yatra”.

The national, state and local-level leaders of the VHP against whom arrest warrants have been issued include its chief Ashok Singhal, Ram Vilas Vedanti and Pravin Togadia. Some senior leaders of the VHP who have already arrived in Ayodhya have been arrested, while entry of others has been banned in the temple town.

The Union ministry of home affairs has intervened and sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government on the facts of the case related to the missing girl, Ishrat Jahan, on Thursday.