New Delhi:
As Uttar Pradesh recovers from the communal flare-up in Muzaffarnagar last weekend, the central government has issued an alert to the state government a day before the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or VHP's 84 Kosi Yatra ends tomorrow.
In a massive crackdown on the yatra last month, the Akhilesh Yadav government had deployed 8000 cops and arrested more than 2000 people, including top VHP leaders like Praveen Togadia and Ram Vilas Vedanti, and detained its chief Ashok Singhal at the Lucknow airport.
The state government had banned the yatra, accusing the VHP of attempting to revive the demand for a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, where the Babri Masjid was brought down in 1992.
The Centre's alert follows the Muzaffarnagar violence that left 38 people dead and forced thousands to take refuge in safer places.
The 300-km yatra circles six Uttar Pradesh districts around Ayodhya - Faizabad, Barabanki, Bahraich, Basti, Gonda and Ambedkar Nagar - with a sizeable Muslim population, a crucial vote bank for the ruling Samajwadi Party government, which is facing flak over its handling of the Muzaffarnagar riots even by its minority leaders within the party.