Hindu terrorism phrase coined by vested interests: VHP

PANAJI - Hindu or saffron terrorism was a “figment of imagination” and a phrase coined by vested interests who were working against the nation, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said here Friday.

VHP’s all-India vice president Ashok Chowgule said the parishad will discuss the issue of ’saffron terrorism’ at its international conference in Goa Jan 4-9.

“The whole idea of saffron terrorism is a figment of imagination which has been phrased to indulge in votebank politics. These type of accusations are made by vested interests and it is not done in the interests of the nation. There is unjustified propaganda against Hindu organisations by vested and so-called secular interests,” Chowgule said.

He added that the media and “so-called” secular intellectuals were silent spectators to the nefarious efforts of “anti-national elements who were carrying out a sustained campaign to paint Hindu organisations and saints as terrorists”.

Elaborating on acts of terrorism involving members of Hindu right wing groups, he said: “As VHP we do not believe in violence… If you do not look into the sequence which leads to the violence, then you cannot address the issue.”

The senior VHP functionary also said like the origins of Islamic terror were also rooted in the hostilities of the West, if concerns of the Hindu community are not addressed, “unfortunate incidents” do take place.

The concept of “saffron terror” came to the fore after investigators tracked the Malegaon blast in Maharashtra some years back to a right wing Hindu organisation called ‘Abhinav Bharat’.

In recent time, another right wing Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha with a large presence in Maharashtra and Goa was accused by the police of triggering improvised explosive device (IED) blasts in both the states.

Chowgule said that top leaders of the VHP would be discussing issues of violence and Hindu or saffron terror, the Jammu and Kashmir issue and the construction of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple at Ayodhya at the Goa meeting which will be held at temple complex in Ramnathi, 35 km from here.

VHP leaders like its international president Ashok Singhal, international working president Shreenivas Vedamanti and international general secretaries Pravin Togadia and Swami Vigyanand would attend the meeting.

–Indo Asian News Service