India: Vishwa Hindu Parishad faceoff over the Chaurasi Kos Yatra | Will an Ayodhya storm lash Uttar Pradesh

From: The Hindu, LUCKNOW, August 21, 2013

Ayodhya storm may lash Uttar Pradesh once again
ATIQ KHAN
AP In this file photo devotees bathe in the Sarayu in Ayodhya. The Akhilesh Yadav government–VHP faceoff over the “Chaurasi Kos Yatra” (yatra of 84 miles) in and around Ayodhya is threatening to raise the spectre of confrontation witnessed during 1990.

Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Cr. PC have been imposed in Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Basti, Bahraich, Gonda and Barabanki.

Even as the Akhilesh Yadav Government–Vishwa Hindu Parishad faceoff over the Chaurasi Kos Yatra (yatra of 84 miles) at and around Ayodhya threatened to raise the spectre of the confrontation witnessed in 1990 when Mulayam Singh was Chief Minister, the government is determined not to allow the VHP to undertake the yatra.

A day after a ban was imposed on the VHP-sponsored yatra, which was to pass through six districts from August 25 to September 13 to mobilise support for the Ram temple, PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav reiterated, “A new tradition will not be allowed and communalism would not be tolerated.”

Meanwhile, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Cr. PC have been imposed in the districts of Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Basti, Bahraich, Gonda and Barabanki.

The senior Minister, who is also the uncle of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and younger brother of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh, slammed the VHP. “Peace and harmony has to prevail for the State to develop, but the VHP wants to obstruct development,” Mr. Yadav said on Tuesday.

While the PWD Minister was reiterating the government’s position in the State capital, VHP general secretary Swami Chinmayanand indicated at Ayodhya that the VHP would defy the ban. He told reporters that if the yatra was not allowed, “sadhus” and “sants” would ensure that the journey was undertaken.
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