Ayodhya, Nov 1 (PTI) An event planned here tomorrow by VHP to observe the 25th anniversary of the firing on activists of the outfit has been denied permission by the Faizabad district administration.
It was in 1990 — when Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister — that personnel tasked with maintaining law and order had fired on violent VHP activists who were proceeding towards Babri Masjid in order to demolish the structure.
VHP had lined up a big programme tomorrow at Kar Sewak Puram, its local headquarters in Ayodhya, to mark the day, but the Faizabad administration has refused to give permission for the staging of the event.
Ayodhya’s resident magistrate KS Varma said that prohibitionary orders have been issued and VHP’s proposed gathering has been disallowed.
Among the leaders who were expected to attend the VHP event in Ayodhya are Union minister Uma Bharti, BJP MPs Vinay Katiyar and Yogi Adityanath and VHP leaders Ashok Singhal, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das and Acharya Dharmendra.
Reacting to the refusal of permission for their programme, VHP spokesman Sharad Sharma said, “We will go by our pre- planned programme and pay tribute to our martyrs and remember their martyrdom.”
A company of CRPF had on November 2, 1990, opened fire on violent VHP activists who had come to Ayodhya to push for the construction of Ram Mandir.
Government agencies had at the time reported at least 16 deaths as a result of the firing.