The meeting of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav with Ashok Singhal and other Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders has apparently not gone down well with Muslims. The Muslim leadership not only turned down proposals for talks on the Babri Masjid issue, and also vehemently opposed the proposal to restart the 84 Kosi Parikrama.
Unnerved by this, the Akhilesh Yadav government on Monday said it was denying permission to the VHP to hold its 84 Kosi Parikrama, due to begin later this month.
UP’s principal home secretary R.M. Srivastava and DGP Devraj Nagar told reporters Monday that the yatra could disturb communal harmony in the state. “The original 84 Kosi Parikrama is held in April, and we will not allow any new tradition in this regard,” they said, adding that if the VHP insisted on taking out the yatra, they would be prevented from doing so.