Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has put a ban on SMS in Ayodhya to clamp down on Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) ‘Sankalp Sabha’ scheduled for Friday, an official said. More than 1200 people across the state have been placed under preventive arrest. Officials said strict vigil was being kept on movement of people to the temple town of Ayodhya and all borders to Faizabad were sealed on Thursday.

At least 42 people, including leaders associated with the Ram temple movement Mahant Nritya Gopaldas, Mahant Suresh Das, Brijmohan Das, Abhishek Mishra and Manmohan Das were placed under house arrest in Ayodhya. At least 366 people were arrested in the state capital. This included the state convener of the Bajrang Dal, Surendra Mishra and spokesman Sharad Sharma. Officials warned VHP and its affiliates not to try and move to Ayodhya.

Director General of Police (DGP) Devraj Nagar, principal secretary (Home) Anil Kumar Gupta are camping in Ayodhya to ensure fool proof security. Traffic between Lucknow-Gorakhpur has been diverted through Barabanki, Gonda-Basti and Sultanpur, officials said. Inspector General (IG) Law and Order, R.K. Vishwakarma said that while Ram Vilas Vedanti had gone underground, there was no information on senior VHP leader Ashok Singhal so far. Meanwhile, principal secretary (Home) Anil Kumar Gupta warned the VHP leadership not to try and enter Ayodhya.