The Hindu : It was a general passing remark, says Togadia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2002

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It was a general passing remark, says Togadia

By Our Staff Reporter

Madurai Oct. 21. The international general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Pravin Togadia, told the media here today that his reference to the ``Italian dog'' was a ``general passing remark'' that did not point to any particular individual, party or organisation.

He said he was delivering a lecture in a remote village in Gujarat on the subject of ``dog psychology'' wherein he referred that when a dog barked the other dogs too barked. The dogs were the same in all places, whether they ``are in Italy or in Gujarat''.

Blaming Congress leaders for ``putting a name into his mouth'', Mr. Togadia said his remarks were not against any individual but against those who were ``hurting and abusing'' crores of Hindus in Gujarat in the last five months.

It had now become a routine for political leaders, particularly in the Congress, to blame the Gujarati Hindus.

Condemning the ``secular media'' for ``twisting and exploiting'' facts, Mr. Togadia said the VHP was in no way connected with the lynching of the Dalits at Jhajjar in Haryana.

``It is a wild allegation and the secularists have given a caste colour to it.'' His information was that one among the killed in Jhajjar was a Brahmin. No secular press had reported this, he said.

Welcoming the Tamil Nadu Government's ordinance banning `forcible' conversions, the VHP leader said that by opposing the ordinance, the Church was demanding the right to destroy Hindu society and nation.

By conversions, it was also trying to increase the numbers to institute its imperial political power.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, by bringing in the ordinance had, however, established a secularistic and pluralistic society.

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