In a huge climbdown, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President President Raj Thackeray announced that he has temporarily postponed his forthcoming visit to Ayodhya on June 5. The decision comes amid protests by certain Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and activists in Uttar Pradesh and even other northern states.

They were demanding Raj's unconditional apology for the treatment meted out to North Indians during the MNS agitation in 2008. The anti-Raj protests were spearheaded by Uttar Pradesh BJP MP Brijbhushan Singh who warned that unless he apologises, lakhs of his supporters would block his entry to Ayodhya on June 5.