Bareilly: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was forced to cancel its proposed "trishul diksha programme" on August 21 after the district administration denied entry to VHP national general secretary Praveen Togadia into the city, official sources said.

"As no prior permission was sought by VHP leaders to organise the function, we decided to ban Togadia's entry into the city in view of the law and order situation," an official spokesman said.

Togadia was scheduled to distribute 'trishuls' and give 'diksha' to VHP workers at a local temple.

The function was organised in response to a similar "trishul diksha programme" organised by Ittehad Millad, a few days ago.

PTI