Hindu saints walk past security personnel standing guard in Ayodhya.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad says it will begin its 300-km-long parikrama or religious procession around Ayodhya, banned by the Uttar Pradesh government, at 9:30 this morning, with a puja on the ghats of the Saryu river in the town.
But in massive security arrangements, the Akhilesh Yadav administration has cut off all access to the ghats and, starting today, all of Ayodhya and its twin town Faizabad are out of bounds for the VHP. Already, more than 350 people headed for the yatra have been arrested from various towns in UP.
In Faizabad, the district headquarters 10 km from Ayodhya, 75 people have been arrested in the Samajwadi Government's effort to enforce its ban on the VHP yatra, which is aimed at mobilising support for a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya where the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.
The administration has decided to use 10 schools in Faizabad as makeshift jails if more yatris are arrested.
The VHP got support yesterday from the BJP, which had used the Ram temple issue to catapult itself to power in the 1990s. Senior leader Sushma Swaraj said, "There is no tension due to yatra but due to all kinds of statements being made. If people avoid making comments, the yatra will be finished peacefully."
The party has slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for being "over-prepared" for a procession that, it claims, is to be performed by "just 250 saints".
The VHP, however, has said about 5000 "seers and saints" from across the country will participate in the yatra and that "we are ready to be arrested."
The procession is proposed to start from Ayodhya today and travel through the districts of Basti, Baharaich, Ambedkar Nagar, Gonda, Barabanki and return to Ayodhya on September 13. Most of these districts have a sizeable Muslim population, a crucial vote bank for the Samajwadi Party.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court today dismissed a petition filed by a Lucknow-based lawyer against the UP government's ban on the VHP yatra.