Feelings run high on the Ayodhya issue
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has promised a hardline Hindu group to look again at controversial plans to build a Hindu temple in Ayodhya.
Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) held a meeting with Mr Vajpayee in Delhi on Sunday at which the prime minister said he would refer the issue to the law minister.
The VHP wants construction of a temple to go ahead at the site, where nine years ago Hindu extremists tore down a mosque.
The event led to bitter communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims, resulting in the deaths of 2,000 people.
The Ayodhya temple issue has dogged the Indian Government in recent years, and threatens to dominate forthcoming state elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Conflicting demands
Law Minister Arun Jaitley will be asked to look at whether the legal case surrounding the Ayodhya issue can be speeded up.
He will also look at the legal and constitutional aspects of handing over parts of the site which are undisputed.
The VHP's meeting with the prime minister came at the end of a week-long march from Ayodhya to Delhi by thousands of Hindu holy men.
Hindu activists say a temple should be build because the site is the birthplace of the Hindu God Ram.
But Muslims want the destroyed mosque there rebuilt.
Prime Minister Vajpayee - the leader of the Hindu nationalist party, the BJP - has made it clear that he wants a Hindu temple at Ayodhya.
Court decision
Critics of the BJP say the issue is being exploited to help strengthen the BJP's position ahead of the Uttar Pradesh state elections.
But some of the BJP's partners in the ruling coalition also oppose moves to start building at Ayodhya.
The regional Telegu Desam Party said such a decision would stoke communal tensions and said the issue should be settled by the courts or through negotiation.
Indian courts have banned any activity at the disputed site, and the government has in the past said it is committed to upholding that order.
However, the VHP has set a deadline of 12 March for the government to allow them to start building - after which they say they will go ahead anyway.