Hindus adamant over temple plans

Youths clamor atop the Muslim mosque in Ayodhya five hours before the structure was completely demolished by hundreds supporting Hindu fundamentalist activists in 1992

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A prominent hard line Hindu group says it will not back down from its deadline to build a temple at the center of a bloody religious dispute in western India.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has taken a tough stance on the issue, saying it will continue with plans to begin shifting material to the temple site in Ayodhya from March 15 before beginning construction.

The proposed site sits on the ruins of a 16th century Babri Muslim mosque destroyed by Hindus a decade ago amid claims that it had been built on the site of a former Hindu temple erected where Lord Rama (a Hindu god) was born. That act sparked nationwide riots in 1992 and has been blamed for thousands of deaths.

A Hindu trust body has also told the government that the 42 acres of undisputed land in Adoyoha must be transferred to the trust by June 12, the Times of India reported on Tuesday.

These latest demands show there is no sign of breakthrough in the deadlock over the temple plans that have been central to an outbreak of violence between Muslims and Hindus in the western state of Gujarat last week that has left more than 500 dead.

Pressure

VIDEO CNN's Satiner Bindra says recent rioting from Hindu-Muslim clashes in western India have devasted businesses in the city of Ahmedabad. Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) After five days of bloody reprisals by Hindus in western India, many Muslim residents in rural villages are living in fear. CNN's Satinder Bindra reports Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   FOCUS Rebuilding a temple's future  • Ayodhya: India's religious flashpoint    RESOURCES Gallery: Hindu-Muslim violence flares up  Gallery: Godhra train fire     CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stems from the same Hindu revivalist movement as the VHP, had urged it to delay the temple after India's worst Hindu-Muslim violence in a decade erupted on Wednesday.

Under pressure from opposition parties and its own allies in the coalition government, the BJP sought a postponement of the March 15 decision deadline, lest it provoke further outbreaks of religious unrest.

The temple site is currently being guarded by thousands of police to keep out Hindu fundamentalists, who have vowed to begin construction of the temple mid-March.

"The program [to build a Hindu temple] will never be called off," Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) president Ashok Singhal told reporters on Monday.

Police have halted trains, blocked roads and sealed off the city, where only a few hundred hard-core Hindu activists now remain, police and council officials.

The rest of the 20,000 who had assembled there last week, helping carve stone pillars for the proposed temple, had left voluntarily.

Violence eases

Although Indian officials say the current situation is 'under control' and that incidents of bloodshed had eased since the weekend, the stance on the temple has renewed the threat of further secular violence in the region.

The uprising began Wednesday when a large group, believed to be organized Muslims, fire-bombed a train carrying Hindu activists near Godhra, killing 58.

The activists were returning from a demonstration in Ayodhya, where they were showing support for the temple's construction.

Since Wednesday, Hindus and Muslims have laid siege to the city of Ahmedabad and other parts of Gujurat, engaging in pitched battles, using stones, sticks, knives, swords and homemade bombs -- with each side accusing the other of stepping up the violence.

Some news agencies have put the toll as high as 540.