Crackers, grief, Babri anniv peaceful

Lucknow, December 6

The 26th anniversary of demolition of Babri Mosque passed off peacefully in Uttar Pradesh today, with Hindu and Muslim organisations observing the day as “shaurya diwas” and “black day”, respectively.

While the VHP and Bajrang Dal burst crackers and resolved to build a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Muslim outfits held protests to express grief.

In Ayodhya, Mahant Suresh Das of Digambar Akhara said Ram Temple is the biggest issue facing the country.  “We must go to the people’s court and convince the public for construction of Ram Temple,” he said.

There are reports of protests being held in Kerala, Hyderabad and Maharashtra.

 Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court today denied permission to the BJP to hold a ‘rath yatra’ to be flagged off by party president Amit Shah from Cooch Behar tomorrow. This was the first of the three rath yatras the BJP had planned to build up the momentum for its poll campaign.

PM Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath were supposed to hold public meetings during the “yatra”. The HC said it could not take place till the next hearing on January 9. — PTI/TNS