Hindu activists vow to swamp Ayodhya

Hindu activists vow to swamp Ayodhya

INDIA: Despite a security clampdown, Hindu activists vowed on Tuesday to press ahead with a plan to converge on the northern Indian town of Ayodhya for a campaign to build a controversial temple.

"Thousands are planning to go. Some of them have reached near Ayodhya, while others will be reaching there soon," Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP -- World Hindu Council) president Vishnu Hari Dalmia told AFP.

"We will continue with the program despite the arrests. We will brave police firing or if they try to beat us with sticks," he added.

"We wanted to perform the whole thing in a very orderly and peaceful way, but the government does not want it to happen that way. Our democratic and religious rights are being banned."

The hardline VHP has said that more than 200,000 Hindus from all over India would assemble in Ayodhya on Friday to attend sankalp diwas (Resolution Day) and stage a demonstration for the construction of the temple.

The VHP is spearheading a campaign to build a temple on the ruins of the Babri mosque razed by Hindu zealots in 1992.

The demolition of the 16th century mosque sparked nationwide riots in which about 2,000 people were killed. -- AFP