As the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday sent a general advisory to all the states and Union territories asking them to deploy adequate security personnel at all sensitive places, political leaders made fresh calls to people not to indulge in making provocative remarks or spreading rumours.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia were on Friday released along with 957 fellow cadres, a day after nearly 2,500 activists were arrested in a massive crackdown by Uttar Pradesh authorities to foil its yatra which also led to protests by its workers.
Shah's rally and other events will be attended by party workers from neighbouring constituencies, including Amethi.
Uneasy calm prevailed in Ayodhya, which on Saturday looked like a fortress, with deployment of more than 10,000 cops on the 22nd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
In his report, Justice Liberhan said the senior police officers were at hand to ensure that their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with "military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen."
Amidst opposition in some quarters to observing International Yoga Day, Vishwa Hindu Parishad International Executive President Dr Praveen Togadia on Sunday said that the discipline was never secular and was more of "Vedic and sanatan".
In Kottayam district alone, 120 people have "returned" to the Hindu faith in the last three months.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia on Wednesday said the Nehru-Liaquat Ali pact in regard to protecting religious places should be implemented in both Pakistan and India.
In the wake of the killing of three Hindus in Sindh province in Pakistan, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday asked India to take up the issue of the security of the minority community with officials in Islamabad. "We demand protection of minority Hindus in Pakistan where they have been subjected to repeated attacks. Human rights organisations across the world and the Indian government should seek an explanation from the Pakistan premier about the repeated killings," he said.
The district administration of Kandhamal, which has been violence-free for about a year, on Tuesday decided not to allow VHP leader Pravin Togadia to visit the town.
Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha, journalists with HW News Network, were produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Gomati district Shubhra Nath, who granted them bail on bail bonds of Rs 7,500.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Gujarat unit had opposed the move of the state government to seek death penalty for former minister Maya Kodnani and others in the 2002 post-Godhra riots case, Parishad leader Pravin Togadia said on Wednesday.
As the infuriated mob blocked traffic and targeted RTC buses demanding action against the officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for the removal of the road side 'Pochamma temple', the police used lathis to disperse the crowd.
The CPM leader claimed that the recent incidents in Orissa have highlighted the use of violence by these outfits against Christians, including the use of weapons and inflammatory materials to burn houses and churches
Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela today criticised the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and some religious leaders for supporting Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate.
Since the historic judgment of the apex court that paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya, and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in the Hindu holy town, a large number of devotees have been flocking to Ayodhya, several among them making their maiden visit to the city.
The Uttar Pradesh government also said the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao was 'indirectly' involved in it.
The meeting came a day after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, set up recently to oversee the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, met for the first time on Wednesday.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Fatehpur Sikri MP Babu Lal on Tuesday reiterated his comments he made against the Muslim community at a condolence meeting for VHP worker Arun Mahaur, who was killed last week allegedly by some Muslim youths.
Mahant Nritya Gopal Das was elected president and Champat Rai general secretary of the Ram Temple trust at its first meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The outfit will also start a nation-wide agitation, VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia said.
'The locals want a permanent solution to the perennial Mandir-Masjid issue. They have realised political parties will lose relevance if a temple is built.'
'We would try our best that the temple structure becomes visible in the next two years.'
The retired Supreme Court judge probing the Godhra incident and the riots that followed it said it will be wrong to say the riots targeted one community.
If the demand is not met, it could lead to a people's movement, which could even lay claim on the thousands of mosques, VHP leader Pravin Togadia said.
The Samajwadi Party government went overboard in deploying nearly 10,000 policemen to patrol the streets of Ayodhya to prevent the VHP from carrying out its 84-kosi parikrama, reports Sharat Pradhan
A brainchild of Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Pravin Togadia, many find its agenda divisive
Ram Bahadur Rai, editor of Hindi magazine Yathawat and an expert on the Ram Janamabhoomi movement, speaks to Gopal Krishna, how then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao had a plan to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya and what transpired in the days leading up to and post December 6 1992 in the second and final part of this interview.
The event is expected to start on Monday.
After the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a Muslim outfit on Saturday protested the shooting of Kathryn Bigelow's film on Osama bin Laden in Chandigarh. The movie is based on the killing of the Al Qaeda leader in Abbottabad (Pakistan). The outfit alleged that shooting of the film will disturb the peaceful atmosphere between the communities in a secular country.
Drone cameras will monitor the crowds in real time.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh executive head Bhaiyyaji Joshi has expressed confidence that the Ram temple will be constructed in Ayodhya by the time of next 'Kumbh'.
'Those who support the attacks should realise that beating Kashmiri students can't help anyone change the result of the game.'
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday justified the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to ban a proposed yatra by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to garner support for the construction of the RamTemple at a disputed site in Ayodhya.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday said it wanted a "Hindu-minded person" to succeed L K Advani as the Bharatiya Janata Party president and termed as "unfortunate" his critical remarks against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi on Tuesday kicked up another controversy with her remarks that those who are opposed to Yoga should go to Pakistan.
