Indian opposition MPs forced the adjournment of both houses of parliament for the fourth consecutive day Thursday, amid a growing row over plans to build a Hindu temple on the ruin of a razed mosque.
Opposition MPs stormed the floors of both houses, demanding Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee apologise for his statement Wednesday that the Hindu temple campaign was an "unfinished" national task.
The Babri Masjid mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya was razed by thousands of Hindu fanatics on December 6, 1992, sparking widespread Hindu-Muslim riots.
The Hindu rightwingers insisted that the 16th century Babri Masjid had been built over an earlier temple to the Hindu god Ram and demanded that a new Ram temple be constructed on the ruins of the mosque.
As well as calling for a retraction from Vajpayee, the opposition MPs on Thursday reiterated demands for the resignation of three ministers, including Home Minister L.K. Advani, who were present in Ayodhya in 1992 and implicated in the mosque's destruction.
Vajpayee has rejected the resignation demands as "baseless."
After both houses were adjourned, the prime minister was forced to hold a meeting with the leaders of his coalition allies, some of whom had echoed the opposition's anger at his statement on the Ayodhya dispute.
"The PM's remarks on temple construction at this stage were unwarranted and had created controversy and a lot of confusion among allies and supporting parties," said regional TDP party leader K. Yerran Naidu said.
During the meeting, Vajpayee reportedly told his allies that his statement had referred to the policies of his own Hindu nationalist BJP party and not the policy of the coalition -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
