New Delhi - Attempts by Hindu and Muslim groups to settle a long-running row over a destroyed mosque in India have run into trouble with top leaders of both sides rejecting planned talks, the Hindustan Times newspaper said on Sunday.
Leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or the World Hindu Council had said on Saturday its leaders would hold talks with the Muslim Babri Masjid Action Committee later this month to settle the country's most explosive religious dispute.
But the newspaper said the VHP's senior leader, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, would not attend the talks scheduled for January 13. Muslim groups have already rejected the talks.
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Hardline Hindu groups linked to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been campaigning for a Hindu temple to be built at the site in the northern town of Ayodhya where a historic mosque was demolished by Hindu zealots in 1992.
They believe the site is the birthplace of the Hindu god-king Ram.
The newspaper said the VHP intended to push ahead with plans to construct a temple on the disputed site.
The date to begin construction is expected to be announced at a meeting of the VHP's council of leaders in the northern city of Allahabad, where millions of devout Hindus are congregating this week to take a dip in the holy Ganges river.
About 3 000 people died in nationwide riots that followed the destruction of the 16th-century mosque, and since then the dispute has led to deep religious and political divides in the country.
Vajpayee last month sparked off a new controversy when he said that a Ram temple in Ayodhya was a reflection of national sentiment.
He made it clear, however, that his government would not permit any activity at the spot until the courts have ruled on the site.
Hindu and Muslim groups have filed petitions claiming ownership of the site and the courts have ordered a ban on any activity there until a verdict is reached. - Reuters
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