September 16, 2003	Tuesday	Rajab 18, 1424

NEW DELHI, Sept 15: The radical Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has said it will launch a nationwide protest from October 15 if a law is not passed to hand over a disputed religious site to Hindus to build a temple.

“If the government does not convene a special session of parliament to pass a legislation for building the Ram temple in Ayodhya, we would launch our movement from October 15,” VHP leader Mahant Avaidyanath told reporters here on Monday.

He said the group would hold a rally in the Indian capital New Delhi and a march from the northern Indian state Uttar Pradesh’s capital Lucknow to nearby Ayodhya, the site of a fiery Hindu-Muslim dispute.

Hindu groups have renewed their demand for a temple following an archaeological report that said a 10th century temple with Hindu carvings existed under the rubble of the Babri mosque — which was razed by Hindus in 1992 sparking nationwide riots.

The dispute over the religious site is in the hands of the courts, which had ordered the excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India. Muslim groups have vowed to challenge the archaeological study.

The VHP, which means World Hindu Council, has close ties to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has played down its past support for the Ayodhya temple.—AFP