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VHP leader Togadia after arrest
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By
Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, November 18 (IslamOnline) - Gujarat Administration on Sunday,
November 17, had to thwart an attempt by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World
Hindu Council) to undertake its controversial yatra (march) in
defiance of an Election Commission ban.
Two
firebrand VHP leaders, Parveen Togadia and Acharya Dharmendra, along
with nearly 300 activists were held in Ahmedabad and Godhra as a
preventive measure. Both Todadia and Dharmendra were released after
remaining in detention for nearly four hours.
India's
powerful Election Commission (EC) has banned religious and communal
rallies in Gujarat ahead of the elections next month. VHP is a close
associate of the ruling BJP, but the government had no choice but to
comply with EC directives since non-compliance may lead to further delay
of the polls.
VHP,
which claims to be a "cultural" organization, works in tandem
with the BJP and raises communal and religious issues and slogans which
BJP cannot do as a political party. This is a neat division of labor in
order to polarize the Hindu vote bank while the BJP would claim that it
has nothing to do with the activities of other organizations.
BJP
candidates may be barred from elections and their election may be set
aside if it could be proved that they used religious and communal
slogans to win votes; hence this ingenious arrangement in which the VHP
becomes active with issues like Ram Temple as soon as election dates are
announced.
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Soldiers stand guard to foil VHP march at Godhra
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The
yatra was to start from Somnath temple, which was plundered by a
Muslim invader in the eleventh century, and was to culminate at the same
place December 6, the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque,
which was spearheaded by the same organization.
VHP
leaders were going to ride a "chariot" which depicted the
Godhra train bogey supposedly burnt by Muslims (but according to much
evidence may have been the handiwork of those extremists themselves in
order to use it to unleash pre-planned terror).
The
chariot also depicted Hindu leaders who supposedly "resisted"
Muslim invaders. Incidentally, one of the greatest heroes of the Hindu
extremists, Shivaji (d. 1680), plundered Hindu temples which used to
hoard great treasures.
After
Sunday’s dramatic events, the VHP announced it would change the
"form" of its march following arrest of its senior leaders.
"The yatra would now take the shape of public meetings and
rallies in different parts of Gujarat", VHP senior vice-president
Acharya Giriraj Kishore announced.
Kishore,
however, said VHP's other planned program, including a public meeting in
Ahmedabad December 6 to mark the tenth anniversary of the demolition of
the disputed structure at Ayodhya, would remain unchanged. The
'Vijaydiwas (victory day)' meeting would be addressed among others by
VHP chief Ashok Singhal.
The
Congress Party on Sunday termed the arrest of VHP leaders as akin to
"match fixing". "We are happy that VHP's yatra was
stopped, but we knew this would happen. We knew BJP and VHP would not
clash with each other. The way the incident occurred, it appeared to be
a mere formality. It's close to match fixing," Congress spokesman
Jaipal Reddy told reporters in Delhi.
The
VHP attacked Sunday Indian Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and Chief Election
Commissioner JM Lyngdoh as "anti-Hindu" and made it clear that
it has no sympathy for political leaders who do not toe its Hindu line
and 'create obstacles' in the formation of its much-hyped 'Hindu Rashtra
(state)'.
Talking
to the media after his release, VHP leader Praveen Togadia did not mince
words when he stated that the "VHP motive is clear and it is to
remove all those chief ministers and prime ministers who object to the
formation of Hindu Rashtra."
"VHP
is not interested in internal politics, but only in Hindu Rashtra,"
Togadia said replying to another question regarding reports of 'joint
efforts being made by the Sangh Parivar (RSS family) and a certain
section of BJP leaders to change the Prime Minister'.
In
recent weeks Hindu extremists have repeatedly attacked Prime Minister
Vajpayee who is seen soft and moderate. The extremists' leader is the
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani who could not make it to the prime
ministership due to his involvement in a "hawala"
(money smuggling) case and demolition of the Babri Mosque.
