While embers of communal violence continue to burn in western UP, the Akhilesh Yadav government could have more trouble coming from the banned VHP yatra in central UP.
According to VHP sources, a grand finale of the 84 Kosi Yatra is being planned in Makhoda in Basti district on September 12 and 13 and efforts are on to turn the event into a show of strength. A Dharma Sansad is also being planned there on September 13.
The yatra began on August 25 and was to continue till September 13 but the VHP show petered out after the Akhilesh government banned the VHP yatra on August 20.
However, after the communal clashes in Muzaffarnagar, the VHP apparently wants to continue the exercise to polarise votes on religious lines and is, therefore, planning a grand finale for the aborted yatra. The state government has already received intelligence inputs about communal tension being heightened in eastern UP — especially after the Muzaffarnagar incidents — if the VHP is allowed to hold the finale.
“All our energies and forces are presently deployed in western UP and we cannot withdraw from there unless the situation gets completely normalised on the ground there. In such a situation, the VHP programme will only serve to add fuel to the fire and any trouble here will rekindle the communal fires in western UP again,” admitted a senior police officer on Wednesday.
Additional forces are being called in from neighbouring districts to Basti to ensure that no communal trouble erupts here and para-military forces are to be deployed, depending on their availability.
The VHP leaders, meanwhile, are determined to hold the finale of the yatra and also the Dharma Sansad. “As Hindus, it is our fundamental right to practice our religion and the state government cannot browbeat us into submission all the time. We did not want a confrontation so we did not move ahead with the yatra but now we will,” said a VHP functionary.
The entire situation, according to sources, has been communicated to the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav who is in Agra on a two-day visit to attend the Samajwadi Party’s national executive. “It is up to the chief minister to take a decision on the matter and give directives for subsequent action. Personally, I feel that any such event at this time will only worsen the situation,” said the police official.