VHP yatra: BJP slams UP government for arrest of leaders

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for arresting VHP leaders ahead of a religious event. BJP spokesman Bizay Sonkar Shastri said the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists and religious leaders wanted to carry out the “84 kosi parikrama yatra” and it was their fundamental right to do so. [caption id=“attachment_1059327” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image for representation only. AFP[/caption] “The Samajwadi Party government … wants to give out a message that it is a messiah of Muslims,” Shastri told IANS. He said the decision to ban the yatra and arrest VHP leaders had created needless tension in Uttar Pradesh. The VHP leadership was Sunday arrested in the temple town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh as they tried to proceed for “Saryu Pujan”, ahead of the “84 kosi parikrama yatra”. The government had earlier banned the yatra, set to begin from the banks of Saryu river. The VHP had said the yatra would pass through Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Gonda, Basti and Bahraich districts. The  yatra from 25 August to 13 September seeks a grand Ram temple at the site of the razed Babri mosque in Ayodhya. IANS