Hardline Hindus demand temple on site of razed mosque
Thousands of Hindu monks tried to march on India's parliament in New Delhi yesterday, demanding the right to build a temple at Ayodhya on the site of a razed mosque, an issue that has split the country.
The leaders of the march, which was blocked by heavily armed police, threatened bigger protests next month.
"We should be allowed to build the temple," said Acharya Giriraj Kishore, leader of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an ally of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party.
"We'll be launching a much stronger agitation next month," he warned, two days before four state elections.
Hindu zealots destroyed an ancient mosque at Ayodhya, northern India, in 1992, triggering riots that left 3,000 dead.