Showdown looms over VHP yatra, UP is tense

Aug 24, 2013 - Namrata Biji Ahuja and Amita Verma |

Age Correspondent

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”.

A day before the yatra, the Centre issued a strict advisory to the Uttar Pradesh government that all possible steps should be taken to keep the status quo at the disputed site in Ayodhya and to ensure that no communal flareup occurs.
The Centre is the custodian of the disputed Ayodhya site, and a top official said the state had been clearly told that the “Supreme Court order to maintain the status quo at the disputed site has to be ensured at all costs”.
The home ministry has put Central forces on standby, and the Uttar Pradesh government deployed heavy security at top Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal’s house in Allahabad on Friday.
Some reports claimed the VHP leader had been put under house arrest.
The security forces conducted a flag march in Ayodhya on Friday and the Faizabad district authorities issued arrest warrants against 70 key VHP leaders.

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