Thousands of policemen are on alert across sensitive northern Indian states on the eve of a potentially explosive Hindu rally in a town at the heart of tensions with minority Muslims.
Authorities sealed off the town of Ayodhya, where thepowerful Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has vowed to defy a court order and hold a rally on Friday to demand a temple be built at the site of a historic mosque destroyed by a Hindu mob in 1992.
More than 3,000 people died in riots after the demolition of the 16th-century Babri mosque and the row over the site has become a symbol of, and a trigger for, Hindu-Muslim tensions.
"Forces have been put on alert," said thepolice chief of the volatile state of Gujarat where more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in revenge killings last year after 59 Ayodhya pilgrims were burnt to death in a train.
Thousands of Hindu activists from Gujarat and neighbouringMaharashtra state have boarded buses and trains to try to reach Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state to the north, but many have been arrested and turned back and the town nearly sealed off.
Fearing Ayodhya could spark trouble, about 20,000 policewill guard the financial capital, Bombay, the target of aseries of bomb attacks blamed on Muslim militants.
The VHP, which is linked with the Hindu nationalistBharatiya Janata Party leading the federal coalition, has vowed to press on with its plans despite the police crackdown.