New Delhi Braces for Protest by Hindu Fundamentalists

With about 85,000 police and paramilitary troops searching vehicles and manning barricades, India’s capital appeared under virtual siege early today as the city braced for a huge demonstration by Hindu fundamentalists in defiance of a government ban.

In an attempt to seal the capital, police in riot gear searched buses and trains entering the city, manned roadblocks of oil drums on almost every road and ringed major government buildings with concertina wire and steel barricades, especially in the huge red sandstone complex where Parliament sits.

Tens of thousands of right-wing politicians, religious leaders and supporters have been arrested or detained around the country since Monday to prevent them from heading toward the capital.

Officials said the massive security operation, apparently the largest ever in New Delhi, was aimed at preventing a new outbreak of the communal violence that left nearly 2,000 people dead across the country after the razing of the Ayodhya mosque by Hindu zealots on Dec. 6.

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the right-wing Hindu party that is the chief opposition group, insisted it would defy the rally ban but urged their supporters to avoid violence. Party leaders had promised to bring 1 million protesters into the city to bring down the government of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao and force a new election.

Murli Manahor Joshi, president of the BJP party, accused the government of repressing democratic rights by acting to prevent a demonstration.

Government officials estimated that half a million Hindus may have entered the city for the rally. Three sports stadiums were designated to house and process people arrested during the demonstration.

Officials said that roughly 50,000 police and 35,000 paramilitary troops had been deployed, and the army was on alert as well. Police said troops would be armed with plastic, rubber and real bullets as well as with tear gas and a foamy chemical “slurry” that is sprayed on the streets to make them too slippery for use.

The interior secretary warned that the police would use “all necessary force” to prevent attacks on Muslim mosques or communities. Most of those killed in the riots after the Ayodhya incident were Muslims.