Kanpur: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on January 30 warned of "drastic steps by the saints" if the Centre failed to hand over the disputed land in Ayodhya to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas before the deadline set by it on February 22.

"Over 10,000 saints from all over the country will participate in a three- day 'dharam sansad' at Delhi and if the Centre fails to hand over the land the saints may take some drastic steps," VHP international president Ashok Singhal told reporters.

"The saints do not want to get involved in any conflict. But if the government adopts the way of confrontation with the saints, the VHP is ready to face it," he said.

Earlier, addressing a dharma sabha, Singhal called upon the people to root out secularism from the country as "India is a Hindu nation and will remain so".

Referring to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s victory in Gujarat elections, he said, "It was the victory of hindutva over secularism. During Gujarat elections all secular parties were united and Chief Ministers of 14 states had visited Gujarat campaigning against BJP, but ultimately hindutva emerged victorious."

Criticising the West Bengal government for not checking the inflow of Bangladeshi nationals into the state, he alleged that large number of illegal migrants were arriving in the state from Bangladesh every day.

The dharam sabha passed a resolution asking the Centre to hand over the land to saints for construction of Ram temple.

The Centre would be responsible for any conflict if it came in the way of temple construction, it said.

PTI