LUCKNOW, Feb 9: Radical Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Saturday threatened to go ahead with the plans for construction of a temple at the site of the Babri Mosque razed in 1992, which sparked the worst-ever Hindu-Muslim riots.

The announcement came ahead of crucial elections in India most populous Uttar Pradesh state, where the Hindu nationalist BJP faces a stiff test of popularity which is likely to determine its survival even at the federal government level.

“Our patience is running out and we will start the temple construction any day now,” said Mahant Ram Chander Paramhans, a senior religious leader associated with VHP told a meeting in Uttar Pradesh’s state capital Lucknow.

“We will announce the date in two to three days and then begin piling the construction material at the site,” he added.

On December 1992, the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was destroyed by Hindu zealots, sparking Hindu-Muslim violence all across India, in which some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

Hindu hardliners like the VHP believe the mosque was built over the birthplace of the Hindu god Ram and had previously given the government until March 12 to give the green light to their plans to build a temple to Ram over the remains of the destroyed mosque.

The disputed site is currently under the protection of the courts.

The VHP, widely perceived as close to BJP, criticised the federal government for its inaction on the temple dispute and its stance that the courts should decide on the issue of construction.

“Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee now talks of court orders, whereas he himself came to power thrice because of the “temple issue”, Mahant Paramhans said.

VHP leaders had earlier this month called on the prime minister at his residence and demanded that they be given a large plot of land around the disputed site to allow preparations for the temple’s construction.

During the meeting, the prime minister assured the activists that he would ask the law ministry to look into their demands.—AFP