Togadia tells BJP to stick to Hindutva

Nagpur, May 16: Vishwa Hindu Parisahd (VHP) International Working President Dr Pravin Togadia on Wednesday advised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not to deviate from its core agenda of Hindutva if it were to taste the fruits of power.

During a short interaction with presspersons here Dr Togadia also suggested to the BJP to stay away from projecting its 'secular' image for short-term political gains.

The firebrand Hindutva icon of VHP said that the BJP and Congress were vying with each other on secularism and development. The BJP, however it tried, could not gain much from projecting its 'secular face'. On the development plank the Congress has scored over the BJP. Therefore, the BJP could gain politically only by sticking to its Hindutva agenda and its core values and politics of development, he said.

The flip-flopp by BJP on Hindutva and secularism had done more damage to the party in the recent past, Dr Togadia said and added that he could not understand as to why the BJP could not muster enough courage and acumen to justify its core agenda of Hindutva vis-a-vis development.

The abrupt shift from Hindutva to secularism was not liked by the traditional core constituency of the BJP, he said and warned that if continued the policy would fetch little dividends for the party. "Consistency is credibility", he added.

Dr Togadia was apparently referring to dilution of Hindutva agenda and its attempt to distance itself from Ram Mandir issue to gain political mileage in the past several years.

The VHP leader said that his organization would support any party and candidate who promised to protect the interests of 100 crore Hindus in the country. The VHP was formed to protect and uphold the Hindu way of life from aggression by forces inimical to Hindu dharma and culture.

He said that the VHP would hold a meeting of saints and seers at Hardwar in June this year to chalk out further agitation program for early resolution of the Ram Mandir issue.

Oppose death penalty for Kodnani: Togadia said that his organization was opposed the move of the Gujarat state government to seek capital punishment for former minister Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi in the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

"We had opposed the move of the state government to challenge the verdict of the trial court in Naroda Patia riots which sentenced Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi to life imprisonment and the state was all set to appeal for capital punishment", he claimed. Kodnani was innocent and wrongly framed by the opposition. She was not present at the scene, he said.

Confusion over PM's post: Commenting on the confusion over BJP's prime ministerial candidate surrounding the name of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Dr Togadia said he had no knowledge that the BJP had declared Modi's name for the PM's post. He said that it would be too early for any party to project anybody as prime ministerial candidate one year before the scheduled Lok Sabha elections. He said that since 1952 no political party had ever declared its PM candidate.

Dr Togadia had advised the BJP to win required number of seats in the elections, strengthen its organizational base, and sharpen attacks on the wrongdoings of the government instead of engaging itself in futile debate on who should be the prime minister.

Exert presure on Pak, Bangladesh: The VHP leader demanded that the Union Government should exert pressure on Pakistan and Bangladesh for protecting human rights of Hindu minorities residing in these countries. The population of Hindus in these countries has drastically declined following relentless attacks on them by the fundamentalist elements. Only 8 per cent Hindus are now living in Bangladesh and just two per cent in Pakistan, the VHP leader said.