The colour khaki clearly ruled the banks of Ayodhya’s Saryu river on Sunday, clearly outnumbering saffron, as top Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Pravin Togadia and Ashok Singhal along with almost 1,700 supporters were arrested in a massive crackdown by the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh to enforce its ban on the controversial yatra.
The VHP could only do a “symbolic inauguration” of its
“Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama Yatra”, immediately after which Mr Togadia was arrested in Ayodhya. The VHP later said that under no circumstances would it call off the yatra, and has called for statewide demonstrations on Monday to protest against the “high-handed attitude” of the state government.
The UP government, on the other hand, hardened its stance and said that all the 1,696 persons who had been arrested or detained would remain in custody until the yatra was called off.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Togadia arrived at the Gola Ghat at 10 am, surrounded by a large posse of policemen, to “inaugurate” the banned VHP yatra. As soon as he announced that the yatra had been “symbolically inaugurated”, he was arrested. A bunch of VHP activists then jumped into the Saryu river to celebrate the “inauguration” and declared they had performed “Saryu Pujan”.
Mr Togadia said demonstrations would be held all over the country on Monday against the ban on the religious yatra. “This is not a political yatra but a religious one, and the ban or oppression resorted to by the government will not be tolerated at any cost,” he said.
In Lucknow, senior VHP leader Ashok Singhal arrived by air from New Delhi and was detained for almost four hours at the airport. His supporters lay on the ground outside the airport and shouted slogans for two hours before being whisked away by the police.