Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan leaves little to chance for Ayodhya verdict

Ahead of the Allahabad high court’s verdict on the disputed site at Ayodhya on Friday, the state government is bracing itself for a possible flaring up of communal passions in the city. On Tuesday, it set afoot a series of measures, both administrative and political, to quell any negative fallout of the verdict.

Chief minister Ashok Chavan appealed to all political parties and religious heads to accept the court’s verdict gracefully and pass a resolution pledging communal harmony. Earlier, he had a meeting with Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray. The Sena is closely linked to one of the religious groups involved in the legal dispute. “He (Thackeray) has assured his help in maintaining peace,” Chavan said.

With memories of the 1992-93 communal riots still fresh, and wounds of the 26/11 attack yet to heal, the government is leaving nothing to chance. “It is my ardent appeal to the media, politicians and the people of the state to cooperate with the administration, which will work round-the-clock to ensure peace,” the chief minister said.

Home minister RR Patil said, “Both the communities have been cautioned against the use of crackers or distribution of sweets.”
 
The government is particularly worried since the verdict comes out on a Friday, when members of one community will congregate in large numbers. The immersion of Ganesh idols would just be getting over at the time.

The government has appealed to the Ganesh mandals to conclude the immersion rituals ahead of time to provide some breather to the police force, which will be on their toes on Friday.

The state has declared next three days as “dry day” restricting the sale of liquor in shops. Chavan has directed all the guardian ministers to park themselves in their respective districts to monitor the situation till September 26.

“The police, who are closely monitoring the developments, will take stern action against anybody trying to disrupt the peace,” Patil said, adding, “community meetings at the level of police inspector are in progress. Also, there is intense intelligence gathering to ascertain the mood of the people.’’ The home ministry has also ordered the detention of individuals with criminal records across the city and the rest of state.

As many as two lakh police personnel will be deployed across Maharashtra, with 45,000 in Mumbai itself, he said.

At an all-party meeting BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde said, “The police should ensure that there is no provocation or celebrations.”

Earlier in the day, revenue minister Narayan Rane held a meeting with collectors and revenue officials to review the preparedness of disaster management operations.