LUCKNOW, Oct 15: Indian police on Wednesday swooped on a radical Hindu leader spearheading a drive to gather thousands of followers in Ayodhya as part of a controversial campaign to build a temple over the site of the Babri mosque.

Giriraj Kishore, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), was arrested with two senior party colleagues in Lucknow while he was on his way to Ayodhya after addressing nearly 1,000 VHP workers, police said.

Police have already rounded up some 18,000 Hindu activists in Uttar Pradesh state this week in a bid to foil the VHP plan to stage a “Sankalp Diwas” (Resolution Day) demonstration in Ayodhya on Friday for the construction of the temple.

Organizers claim more than 200,000 Hindus from all over India are on their way to Ayodhya, 126 kilometres from Lucknow, for the protest.

“Each one of you knows your duty and nothing should deter you from proceeding to Ayodhya to fulfill that duty to Lord Ram,” Mr Kishore told his followers before being arrested.

Uttar Pradesh state’s top police official confirmed the arrest and said the authorities would not tolerate “any untoward incidents”.

“We have detained 18,000 Hindu activists from all over Uttar Pradesh in the past week. This includes local people as well as Hindu activists travelling to Uttar Pradesh from other parts of India,” the official said.

Most of those arrested were pulled out of trains taking them to Ayodhya.

Sharad Sharma, a local VHP spokesman in Ayodhya, said he too had been arrested. But he vowed the rally would go ahead as planned.

“The programme will go on as per schedule. Our people are there in Ayodhya and many more will enter the city soon,” Sharma said.

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

Last month, the VHP had said it would intensify its campaign to construct a temple at Ayodhya with rallies across the country.

However, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is known to be staunchly secular, has vowed to maintain the “status quo” until the court gives its ruling in the matter.

The VHP-sponsored programme has the potential to embarrass Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose Hindu nationalist BJP also supports the temple campaign.

The VHP has close links to the BJP and some of its leaders have said they would participate in Friday’s function. —AFP