President of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) Shivpal Singh Yadav met Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Sunday and expressed his concern over the “large and unlawful” gathering of people in Ayodhya.
Emerging out of the meeting, the former state Minister said it was a matter of grave concern that despite prohibitory orders lakhs of people were allowed and even facilitated by the state government to gather in the temple town.
He added that this was an attempt by some forces to stoke communal passions that posed a danger to the state’s harmony as well as that of the nation’s.
Shivpal Yadav, who is the younger brother of Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, also questioned the silence of the Yogi Adityanath government on the ‘Dharma Sabha’ being held in Ayodhya by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Sunday.
“A similar situation had arisen in 1992 and it is for everyone to see what happened…the matter is before the Supreme Court and everyone should show patience,” he said while pointing out that that there was a large stretch of land on the banks of the river Saryu which was under government control and that a Ram temple can be constructed there.
“Why this obstinacy to build a Ram temple at the spot where Babri mosque was razed,” the PSP(L) leader said.
He also warned that the BJP and its affiliates should not do anything that threatened the communal fabric and lead to riots and violence.
There are better things for the state and the central governments to do rather than going on name changing spree of districts and installing statues, he added.