NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Senior Sangh Parivar leaders met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi on Wednesday evening to "convince him of the legality of returning the land acquired by the government in Ayodhya to the Ram Janambhoomi Nyas" to facilitate the construction of the Ram temple from March 15.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Madan Das Devi, Vishwa Hindu Parishad international working president Ashok Singhal and former high court judge Justice Ram Jois attended the hour-long meeting at the prime minister's Race Course Road residence, sources said.
During the meeting, Vajpayee appealed to Singhal and other leaders to postpone the ongoing movement at Ayodhya in view of the "tense situation" prevailing in Gujarat following the attack on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, the sources said.
Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes and Law Minister Arun Jaitley were present at the meeting.
Justice Jois, a leader of the Sangh Parivar's legal wing, the Adhivakta Parishad, informed Vajpayee and other ministers that there were no legal complications in the government handing over the land, they said.
The meeting came close on the heels of the Godhra incident where about 55 people were killed when miscreants set afire four bogies of the Sabarmati Express and Advani's warning that the government would not hesitate to take action to maintain law and order in Ayodhya.
Emerging out of the meeting, a visibly angry Ashok Singhal declined to talk to reporters.
ALSO READ Fifty-five killed in attack on Sabarmati Express Sabarmati Express set afire in Gujarat, 30 dead Sabarmati Express bogie set afire; trouble in Baroda VHP announces 'muhurat' for shifting temple pillars to disputed site Keep VHP activists out of Ayodhya, Centre tells UP
Tell us what you think of this report
