A right-wing Hindu group threatened Sunday to snap ties with India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if it did not push for the building of a temple on the ruins of a mosque at Ayodhya. The issue is one of the most controversial in India and sparked riots between Hindus and Muslims in 1992 after Hindu zealots tore down the 16th century Babri mosque in the northern town.
About 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the clashes, the bloodiest in India since the 1947 partition with Pakistan.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) president Ashok Singal said here the hard-line Hindu party would break ties with the BJP if it backed down on the campaign.
"If the BJP does not pursue or tries to dilute this issue, we will not hesitate to break off our ties with them," he told a party meeting in Vartal in the western state of Gujarat.
"If we have a choice between the Ram temple or the BJP, we will always choose the former," he said.
The BJP was ousted from government in May after a shock defeat at the polls. Party president L.K. Advani acknowledged Wednesday that the temple campaign had slowed but was adamant it would continue.
Analysts say one of the reasons the BJP was swept from power by the left-leaning Congress party was its espousal of the temple cause at the cost of more pressing socio-economic issues.
The BJP would find it difficult to reach out to its hardcore Hindu constituency if the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were to became its harshest critic.
Hindus believe the Ayodhya mosque was built after Muslim rulers destroyed a shrine at the birthplace of their god Ram and they have since been pressing for the "reconstruction" of the temple.
The issue is before the courts and attempts by BJP supporters to forcibly build the temple have been stopped by India's security forces.