1200 Hindu extremists arrested over plans for illegal demonstration in Ayodhya
Lucknow ( AsiaNews / Agencies) -
More than 1,200 Hindu extremists have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh to prevent
the holding of Sankalp Diwas , the
demonstration called by the ultra-nationalist group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP ) in Ayodhya for today, but not
authorized by the government. The
objective of the demonstration is to demand the reconstruction of the Ram
temple on a land disputed for centuries by Hindus and Muslims. On
6 December 1992, about 150 thousand Hindu extremists of Sangh Parivar razed the mosque of Babar ( Babri Masjid ) sparking violent
clashes across the country , which killed more than 2 thousand people ,
mostly Muslims.
Most
of the arrests took place yesterday in Ayodhya , where police arrested 340
people, including the spokesman of the VHP and former member of parliament of
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP ,
Hindu radical party ) Lalu Singh. To
prevent militants reaching the area , the police deployed 2 thousand Rapid Action Force ( RFA) agents,
specialized in counter-terrorism unit .
The
Babri Masjid story has become the political emblem of extremist Hindu
nationalists. Built
in 1528 in Ayodhya , which Indian tradition considers the birthplace of Ram (
incarnation of the god Vishnu ), it has for centuries been the center of
disputes between Muslims and Hindus. The
latter claimed that the mosque was built on the ruins of an ancient Hindu
temple.
After
several attempts to raze it, on December 6 , the Sangh Parivar activists, summoned
to Ayodhya for a symbolic ceremony to start the construction site of the Hindu
temple, railed against the mosque by breaking down the three domes in less than
three hours. The
police, deployed in contingents along with paramilitary forces, failed to intervene.
During
the night a small Hindu temple was built on the ruins of the Babri Masjid.
In
2010, the Allahabad High Court ruled
that the area be divided into three parts between Hindus and Muslims.
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