LUCKNOW: Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) burn effigies of three high court judges while the BJP government made no effort to enforce the court’s order to stop construction of the temple at Ayodhya.
The VHP general secretary Ashok Singhal set the tone for the day’s events with a provocative speech defying the Allahabad HC’s order w stop construction and accusing the judiciary of subverting the Constitution and playing with the sentiments of the Hindu community. He and Mahant Avaidyanath MP from Gorakhpur gave a call to fight the judiciary with dharnas and demonstrations on the premises of all courts in the state on July 20.
The Faizabad district magistrate R.N.Srivastava and the superintendent of police D.B.Roy disputed premises even as wok on the temple gained momentum.” We will not allow the government to stop the work” Singhal later told reporters. Srivastava said he had received ho instructions from the government about enforcing any court order. The two state ministers Lalji Tandon and Brahmadutt Dwivedi who visited Ayodhya also left no instructions for him He also expressed surprise at Singhal’s statement. “I never tried to enter the place. So there can be no question of stopping” he said. About 5000 people listened to Singhal’s speech before burning the effigies of the judges the Prime Minister Rao and the home minister S.B.Chavan A pant of the crowd then began kar seva.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 31, 1992
