Hindu extremists said they would hold their controversial religious ceremony in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya tomorrow, despite the Supreme Court order banning their ritual to build a Ram temple on the site of a demolished mosque.
"If anybody stops us they will face the same consequences as those who resorted to burning people alive in Gujarat," Ramchandra Paramhans, the most senior Hindu priest campaigning to construct the temple to the Hindu god, Lord Ram, said.
The 93-year old priest was referring to the Hindu backlash against Muslims in western Gujarat state earlier this month in which over 600 people died. The Muslim pogrom lasting several days followed the burning alive of a train-load of 58 Hindu activists returning from Ayodhya. "No Muslim is stopped from going to Mecca on pilgrimage. But Hindus being stopped from coming to Ayodhya is the gravest of crimes," he stated.
Meanwhile, a "band of steel" of security personnel has been thrown around Ayodhya. Over 10,000 armed police and paramilitary personnel deployed across this temple town some 450 miles east of New Delhi and with army units standing by, ready to be summoned to counter trouble. But many fear they may be unable to contain the flood of Hindu fundamentalists that might sneak into this city of over 6,000 temples.
In 1992, an equally large force was unable to prevent a mob of Hindu zealots, promising to hold a similarly peaceful prayer ceremony from demolishing the Babri mosque.
This led to countrywide riots in which over 2,000 people died.
Fearing trouble, Ayodhya's most senior police officer R.K. Bhatia has taken leave while intelligence agencies fear that thousands of Hindu activists have begun sneaking in to the region in twos and threes, ready to emerge in the city for the prayer ceremony.
Intelligence officials said thousands of Hindus from across the country are arriving in towns ringing Ayodhya before walking long distances to reach their destination, hiding in fields en route to avoid police detection.
Thousands of Hindu activists who gathered here for the construction ceremony last month have been sent away and ostensibly the security measures seem to be working. By federal fiat, all passenger trains are by-passing Ayodhya while all approaches to this holiest of Hindu towns are sealed. Only vehicles with special permits are allowed movement, but they too are stopped and searched frequently at police roadblocks.
Police claim all villages within 20 miles of Ayodhya have been cleared of outsiders while the city's lanes and alleyways are teeming with security personnel, searching for any Hindu activists who may have slipped in.
Armed paramilitary personnel line the banks of the city's Sarayu River to prevent activists from sneaking in like they did a decade ago. "The security presence is multiplying daily," a local said. Others said there were more security men than pilgrims at Tuesday's holy ceremony dedicated to Lord Shiva. Last year tens of thousands had attended the ceremony on the river bank.
"We've searched all the temples and hotels to see if any one is hiding. No one can get through," a police official said.