The VHP said it is not opposed to the tour though it believed that such sporting ties would not improve Indo-Pak relations.
The BJP, under flak for the Kandhar militants' release, was in for criticism from an unexpected quarter today when the VHP termed the incident as a sign of the saffron party's "incapacity" in governance.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad was on Monday refused permission by the Uttar Pradesh government to organise a yatra from Ayodhya to push for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site, just days after it asked Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to work as a bridge between Hindus and Muslims on the issue.
The British government has said it does not consider the right-wing Hindu groups VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal as "terrorist" organisations, in remarks which may have political connotation.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Thursday said its volunteers were active in Gandhian Anna Hazare's movement against corruption in Delhi last year.
The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday arrested around 340 people, including former Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Lalu Singh, and put 42 others under house arrest on the eve of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's 'Sankalp Diwas' rally in Ayodhya, which has been banned by the state government.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday gave its support to Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption but said it was involved in the movement "only as patriots".
VHP International General Secretary Dr Pravin Togadia told a press conference at the VHP's Delhi office, "The agitation is limited to four hours. We are resorting to this to press for our demand that Jammu and Kashmir government rescind its order not to hand over land to the SASB."
As a precautionary measure, the Nuh district administration has already ordered the closure of educational institutions and banks on Monday, suspended mobile Internet and bulk SMS services, and imposed prohibitory orders in the communally-sensitive district.
Claiming there was nothing religious about Vishwa Hindu Parishad's 84 Kosi Yatra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today described it as a "political drama" which his government had not allowed to be staged.
'He should declare whether he belongs to the Sangh Parivar, and if he believes so he has to abide by its discipline,' Ashok Singhal said.
The Centre has rushed additional security forces to Ayodhya to prevent the much hyped yatra that is being planned by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in spite of a ban on it by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Sensing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's attempts to rekindle Ayodhya sentiments, the Akhilesh Yadav-led government in Uttar Pradesh has banned a meeting to mark the 25th death anniversary of brothers, Ram and Sharad Kothari, who fell to police bullets while performing the symbolic kar sewa on November 2, 1990 -- two years before the Babri Masjid was brought down.
Accusing Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav of buckling under pressure of his party colleague Azam Khan in banning its proposed yatra, the VHP said it will go ahead with its plan.
At least 600 pilgrims traveling to the Amarnath shrine, led by Vishwa Hindu Parishad workers, on Sunday courted arrest after they were prevented from proceeding towards the hill shrine by the state administration. The date of the yatra was fixed on June 25 by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. But the pilgrims tried to start the yatra from Sunday, defying the prohibitory orders clamped to deter them.
Mobs killed a cleric in a late night attack on a mosque, torched an eatery and vandalised shops as communal violence that began in Haryana's Nuh spilled over into Gurugram, taking the death toll to five, the police said on Tuesday.
Stepping up pressure for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre cannot afford to fail its electors on the "core issue" and must deliver on it.
Two officers, including a deputy commissioner of police, were on Friday removed from field posting within 24 hours of a lathi-charge on Bajrang Dal activists staging an anti-drug mafia protest at a busy intersection in Indore.
It then went on to ask whether a lion could be named after Swami Vivekananda or Ramakrishna Paramahansa.
Normal life disrupted in Assam during a statewide bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
After clamping down on its yatra on the Ayodhya issue, the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday banned Vishwa Hindu Parishad's proposed 'Sankalp Diwas' stir on October 18 to press for a parliamentary legislation on building Ram temple, fearing a communal flare-up.
The accused person has been absconding and search is underway to trace him, police said.
Five accused wanted in connection with the July 31 communal violence were "handed over" to the police by residents of Singar village following repeated appeals by the police and administration, an official said on Monday.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday came in defence of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, prime accused in the Malegaon blasts, and called the imposition of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against them as 'political conspiracy'.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday accused the Congress-led government of trying to "malign the image of Hindu leaders by terming them as terrorists" and claimed it was the 'greatest lie' that Swami Aseemanand has confessed to the Samjauta Express blast."We are trying to enlighten the people. If the Congress tries to entangle Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders, then a movement will be started against them (Congress)," said Ashok Singhal
RSS, VHP activists distributed saffron colour scarves advising North-East Indians they visited to sport it as a shield against any attack on them. Mohammed Siddique reports.
The final day of the Kingfisher Ultra Fashion Week in Visakhapatnam was stopped by the city police after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested against the alleged use of Lord Ganesh's images on 'revealing' dresses. VHP district secretary G Radhakrishna and its regional vice-president Thota Peda Venkateswara Rao lodged a complaint at the Three Town police station on Sunday against the display of images that allegedly hurt the religious sentiments of the community.
With Vishwa Hindu Parishad adamant in going ahead with its planned yatra from Ayodhya from Sunday, the Faizabad district administration on Friday issued arrest warrants against its 70 leaders amid heavy deployment of police force in the twin towns.
Representatives of the Shia community on Wednesday flatly rejected Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Ashok Singhal's offer to hold talks on the Ayodhya issue.Singhal had said that since the Allahabad high court had dismissed the Sunni Waqf Board's suit staking claim to the disputed Ramjanma bhoomi- Babri Masjid land in Ayodhya, the VHP would now hold talks with Shia organisations. "The VHP is now trying to incite a confrontation between Shias and Sunnis," said a Shia cleric.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, was passed unanimously as besides the BJP MLAs, members of the Opposition Congress as well as the Aam Aadmi Party extended their support to it.
In the Marxists-ruled Kerala, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Kerala chapter has launched a helpline offering assistance to "Hindus in distress". Named Shivaji Hindu Helpline, the service particularly offers "help for Hindu girls who are being lured into what they call the trap of "love-jihad".
Advani's parikarma plans, however, have received support from the RSS, with its leader Suresh Soni saying the Sangh may consider joining him.
The police have registered an FIR against unidentified people for allegedly making provocative speeches at the August 13 'Sarv Hindu Samaj mahapanchayat' in Haryana's Palwal, officials said on Wednesday.
VHP leader Pravin Togadia told a dharam sansad in Delhi that this will help restore the honour of the 'Hindu rashtra'.
The Baharatiya Janata Party condemned Uttar Pradesh government's crackdown against VHP yatra from Ayodhya and accused it of playing vote bank politics while Samjwadi Party said it won't let the state "become another Gujarat" or a repeat of Dec 6, 1992, when the Babri mosque was demolished.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to 7,000 people, including 3,000 VVIPs, for the consecration.
The VHP will put up boards in various places all over the country declaring India a Hindu Rashtra.
Jammu and Kashmir unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad termed the invite by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to Kashmiri separatists as "strange and ironical," saying the neighbouring country is playing with the sovereignty of India.
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