[1]Lucknow: Tension mounted in the twin towns of Ayodhya and Faizabad on Saturday on the eve of the VHP’s proposed yatra with the arrest of over 347 VHP activists.
BJP MLA Savitri Bai Phule, VHP’s provincial coordinator Acharya Kushmuni and Mahant Santosh Das, a.k.a. Sathu Baba, a VHP office-bearer in Varanasi, were taken into preventive custody or put under house arrest while prominent VHP leader Mahant Ram Saran Das was held at Ram Sanehi Ghat in Ayodhya.
In Amethi, Peethdheshwar of Sagra Ashram Abhay Chaitanya Mauni Maharaj was also put under house arrest as a precautionary measure.
According to a senior home department official, preventive arrests were made in Kanpur City (100), Kanpur Dehat (35), Banda (10), Fatehpur (17), Alla-habad (43), Faizabad (62), Balrampur (11), Basti (18), Varanasi (9) and Jaunpur (7). Faizabad district magistrate Vipin Kumar Dwi-wedi said that warrants have been issued against senior VHP leaders Ashok Singhal, Pravin Togadia and Ram Vilas Vedanti, among other senior leaders.
Meanwhile, VHP leader Ashok Singhal, who was placed under house arrest on Friday, said that the UP government was behaving as if “we are going to war with China”.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/india-hindu-templekandjpg-490