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Gujarat Govt. to strictly implement ban order

By Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD NOV. 14. The stage is set for a possible confrontation between Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists and the Gujarat police, with the VHP reiterating its decision to go ahead with its `yatra' from Godhra on Sunday and the Chief Secretary, G. Subba Rao, making it clear that the State Government will strictly follow the Election Commission's directive to stop it.

Declaring the VHP's decision to go ahead with the proposed `Hindupat Padshahi Yatra'' (Hindu sovereignty yatra), the VHP international general-secretary, Pravin Togadia, said the Chief Election Commissioner, J.M. Lyngdoh, was acting like the "president'' of the Congress party and trying to "terrorise'' the State bureaucracy to ensure a Congress victory in the elections.

Claiming that the Godhra Sub-Divisional Magistrate had issued the necessary permission to the VHP to hold the meeting in Godhra on Sunday, Mr. Togadia said the VHP had not received any communication to the contrary from the State Government and there was no question of any ban on the yatra. He also released a copy of the order dated November 13 signed by the SDM, Godhra, permitting him and Acharya Dharmendra Maharaj to hold the meeting "under certain conditions'' in Godhra. Mr. Subba Rao, however, said he was not aware of any such permission, which might have been issued in a "routine course'' and before the Election Commission's directive was received by the State Government last evening. The Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Ashok Narayan, said the SDM had been told to withdraw the permission in the light of the CEC's directive.

Mr. Rao said the State Government had informed all the officials concerned about the CEC's orders and if the VHP attempted to violate the ban, "the law will take its own course.''

Mr. Togadia claimed that the State Government's report cited by the CEC for issuing the ban order had been deliberately twisted. The "secret'' report of the Government did not suggest any such ban, but Mr. Lyngdoh was trying to mislead the people of the State for carrying out his "Congress agenda.''

Mr. Togadia sought to give an assurance to the people and the authorities that the VHP yatra would be "peaceful'' and not a stone would be thrown at any of the 200 meeting venues or en route. He said he was confident that the Muslims in the country would not be "instigated'' by Mr. Lyngdoh and any attempt to disrupt the yatra by the pseudo-secularists would expose them to be the "supporters'' of the Pakistani President.

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