The Hindu : VHP continues to target Govt.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 02, 2002

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National

VHP continues to target Govt.

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 1. If in Lucknow the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Ashok Singhal, had on Saturday directly criticised the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, for failing to take "decisive action", today another VHP leader, Pravin Togadia, said the country "needed a leader like Ariel Sharon or a George Bush junior'' to take on the `jehadis'.

If the Government failed on this front, as it had failed so far, "the country would inevitably move towards a "civil war'', he said.

"If this Government is unable to give the required leadership, Modis will spring up in every place (jagah jagah par Modi khade ho jayenge),'' he said.

The reference was to the Gujarat chief minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, who is undoubtedly the VHP's hero after the Gujarat massacres.

Clearly, in the VHP's perception, neither Mr. Vajpayee nor the Deputy Home Minister, L.K.Advani, are up to the mark. The President of the United States, George Bush, was able to take action to defend his country against terrorism, but the Vajpayee Government had failed to defend India against such attacks.

When Mr. Togadia was directly asked what he thought of "Sardar Patel II'', a title given to Mr. Advani by the Sangh Parivar, his response was a terse "no comment''.

On Mr. Singhal's recent criticism of Mr. Vajpayee, Mr. Togadia was quite unapologetic.

"Singhal's criticism was an expression of genuine concern by a supporter, an ardent supporter of the BJP for over several decades. It is the duty (of the BJP leaders) to introspect, I wish they do this introspection,'' Mr. Togadia advised.

The Government's failure to take harsh steps against "terrorism'' was noted by the VHP today while it pointed out that the series of terrorist attacks, from Coimbatore and Chennai to Gujarat, Kolkata and Kashmir, had established it as a pan-Indian phenomenon.

The VHP demanded that the Government ban `madrassas' and a close watch be kept on key Islamic schools which he charged were "instilling the `jehadi mentality' in Muslim children''.

For once, the VHP did not blame the entire minority community, but said that some `madrassas' encourage the `jehadi' mentality.

Mr. Togadia said that if Muslims wanted to live in peace in India they must give up the concepts of `Darul Islam', of `kafir'and `jehad'.

This was not impossible as several Muslim nations had given up many Islamic concepts including the concept of a single Muslim state.

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