The Hindu : 'Hindutva will reply if Godhra is repeated'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 14, 2003

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Other States - Madhya Pradesh

'Hindutva will reply if Godhra is repeated'

Maihar (Madhya Pradesh) Jan. 12. Joining issue with the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, over assertions that his Government would not allow a repetition of Gujarat in the State, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Pravin Togadia, said today that ``Hindutva would give its reply'' if Godhra-type incidents occurred again.

Mr. Togadia was addressing a rally in the temple town after the conclusion of a two-day training camp for VHP workers.

``If there is no Godhra-type incident here, Madhya Pradesh will remain calm.

``But, if there is a Godhra-type incident, there is no need for people like me. Hindutva will itself give its reply as it happened in Gujarat.''

The organisation would go ahead with its programme of distributing ``trishuls'' in every village of Madhya Pradesh, despite the State Government ban. Mr. Togadia said the VHP would not be pressured by any threat.

Referring to the growing number of `madrassas' in the State, Mr. Togadia alleged that they were being used by anti-national forces for training terrorists.

``If terrorism had no religion, why were only Hindu temples and Hindu leaders being targeted and not mosques?''

On the Ram temple issue, he said people had not forgotten Godhra though ``the Chief Election Commissioner, J.M. Lyngdoh, had postponed the elections by 10 months''. ``Then how can we forget the Ram temple issue?''

In Jabalpur, giving a new twist to the Babri masjid demolition issue, Mr. Togadia said the structure that was destroyed was a ``de facto and de jure'' Ram temple in a dilapidated condition and not a mosque.

``Already a temple existed there and pooja was being performed,'' he said, adding that the VHP was ``not ready to accept the construction of the Babri mosque at the site''.

He said the two-day `dharma sansad' in New Delhi from February 22 would chalk out a strategy and give guidelines on the future action plan for a mass movement and denied the issue was being raised since the polls were round the corner.

He appealed to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to force the Mufti Government in Jammu and Kashmir to implement POTA.

On the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani's denial on India becoming a ``Hindu rashtra'', the VHP leader said it was an ``error'' in translation and interpretation by the media.

Mr. Togadia differed with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, on one of the four criteria in his ``musings'' released during his recent Goa holiday.

PTI

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'Hindutva will reply if Godhra is repeated'