Ram temple, Hindu terror, Brahmaputra dam top VHP meet agenda

RAMNATHI - An aggressive nationwide campaign for the Ramjanmabhoomi temple at Ayodhya and ways to work around “Congress-engineered saffron terror” tag are among major issues Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) top officials will discuss at their three-day conference, which began at Goa Friday.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the VHP’s international trustees and governing council’s conference, general secretary Pravin Togadia said the temple would not be built on the 35 feet patch where Lord Ram was born, but spread across all of 67 acres plot in Ayodhya.

“We will deliberate as to when we are going to start the Hanuman Shakti Jagran process, which will start the final democratic struggle towards the creation of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple. The movement will reach high fervour, like the time in the 1990s,” Togadia said.

Togadia said that the nationwide movement is aimed at compelling lawmakers in the Indian parliament to pass a legislation enabling construction of the Ram temple.

“The VHP is not party to any court case. We are not satisfied with building a temple over 35 feet. We want to construct a temple spread over the entire 67 acres in Ayodhya,” Togadia said.

“It is a question of faith. No one has the right to question the faith of Hindus in India,” he said, adding that the government should fulfil the promises it has given in an affidavit, that if the court gives a verdict in favour of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple, the entire complex would be handed over for construction of the temple.

Earlier, VHP president Ashok Singhal trained his guns on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, claiming that the Congress was branding Hindu saints and other Sangh Parivar organisations as terrorists.

Singhal said that the central government, which acted on the instructions of a ‘Catholic’ Sonia Gandhi, was pushing Hindus into a tight corner.

“Sonia Gandhi is trying to paint all the Hindu saints in bad light and is making efforts to brand the RSS and other Hindu organisations as Hindu terrorists or saffron terrorists,” he said.

The VHP also said that a global strategy was being worked out to stall China’s plans to build a dam on the Brahmaputra river.

“The damming and the diversion of the Brahmaputra river by China is a serious issue. We will deliberate about it during the three-day conference and plan a global strategy to ensure that the dam does not come across the river,” Togadia said.

About 250 top-ranking officials of the VHP have arrived in Goa for the conference, which will decide on the dates and the logistics of the next nationwide movement for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.