The new blood in VHP leadership seems to be more orthodox in its Hindu nationalist perspective than the old guard
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the saffron outfit affiliated to the RSS and which once was led by biggies such as Ashok Singhal and Giriraj Kishore, is now spearheaded by VHP’s next generation of leaders such as Milind Parande who in a no-holds-barred interview called Muslims “infiltrators”.
In the interview he alleged, “They (Muslims) are taxing our resources. They need to be identified and hunted down,” while speaking in the context of the NRC.
Parande, the VHP’s international secretary general has, however, demanded an amendment to the Citizenship Bill to ensure Hindus are not affected. “Hindus who have come to India are refugees by nature. We cannot disown them. Whether they have documents or not, they cannot and should not be sent back,” said the new face of the ultra-right in India.
Parande has said that any contemporary politics has to revolve around Hindutva. He said how doing politics minus Hindutva was not feasible.
Speaking on the day of the brutal murder of Bondhu Gopal Pal, his pregnant wife and child in West Bengal’s Murshidabad, he said, “This is in continuation of the politics of violence that is prevalent in the state. Our cadres who propagate Hindutva, are killed day in and day out where the toll has reached more than 270.”
He added, “Of course, she (West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) is encouraging illegal immigration. Which leader would ask intruders to file fake police complaints to back their citizenship claims?” he asked.
Sounding optimistic about the Ayodhya Ram temple hearing, Parande said the completion of a grand Ram Temple by next Diwali was a possibility.
“Already there’s a small temple. Stones are being sculpted there (Ayodhya) for the first level and the sanctum sanctorum. Even in the Supreme Court, our side is way much stronger. Completion of a grand Ram Mandir by next Diwali? Why not?” said Parande, who has made a place for himself among the current batch of VHP top guns.
However, with an agenda that goes beyond building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said Indic philosophies should be studied in “Vedic universities” and the VHP was in talks with the Ministry of Human Resource Development on this, he said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, is holding a six-day event at the Birla Mandir in New Delhi to popularise Vedic teachings. The VHP is calling it “Chaturved Swahakaar Maha Yagna”, which they say is being organised “in order to make the knowledge and science of the Vedas accessible to the masses”.
A VHP statement said, “The knowledge, science and spirituality that are in the Vedas could also be inculcated into the society through establishment of Vedic universities and chairs.”
For the first time, VHP elaborated on these plans.
“We have already procured land for the same in Haryana. We will talk with the HRD ministry for this purpose. The idea is to inculcate Vedic teachings among university students,” he elaborated.
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