A motley crowd of 2,500 gathered at a function at Govardhan, 15 km from Mathura. Even Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, one of the chief architects of the Ayodhya movement, who was scheduled to chair the meeting, failed to turn up.

Singhal, though, was at his acerbic best, calling upon the gathering to unite in the face of the onslaught on their culture by the minorities. ``See who is sacrificed -- a tiger or sheep? You have to be powerful so that nobody can insult you,'' he exhorted the people.

Singal urged the youth to pledge for the liberation of the Krishna Janmabhoomi which had been ``destroyed by foreign invaders''.

Differences in the Sangh Parivar came to the fore when Singhal criticised Prime Minister Atal BehariVajpayee for assuring Christians of action against the activists who had attacked them at various places in the country. ``Nobody has cited a single incident of attack by VHP men. Those raping nuns in Jhabua were Christians only,'' he claimed.

After taking the pledge, VHP activists performed the 22-km-long parikrama of Govardhan, the mythical mountain which had been lifted by Sri Krishna on his finger. Some of them went towards Mathura which was heavily guarded by paramilitary forces.

Muslims performed prayers at the Shahi Idgah Mosque as scheduled.