ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

VHP builds up temple issue against Vajpayee

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has declared that the Ram temple at Ayodhya would be completed by 2001 AD irrespective of court decisions.

Announcing this at a press conference in New Delhi, VHP leaders Acharya Dharmendra and Giriraj Kishore said that all sants (religious leaders) of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains would unite to ''protect'' Hindu interests and resist the proposed ''evangelisation plan'' of Christians.

Acharya Dharmendra, who played a major role in the Ayodhya campaign, said the foundation of the temple, and nearly 25 per cent work on stone have been completed.

Declaring the courts had no jurisdiction in religious matters and could not decide where and when the temple should be constructed, the acharya, briefing reporters on the VHP's recently-concluded three-day dharam sansad (religious parliament) at Ahmedabad, said the sants were not obliged to wait for court orders. It was purely a religious matter.

''Ram temple will be constructed at the same spot -- not an inch on the right, left, back or front.''

Commenting on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's stand on the issue, the VHP leader said, ''It is a national agenda and ours is a Hindu agenda. The sants are not obliged to go by the national agenda and in our opinion, the Hindu agenda is the national agenda. Political agenda can change but not the Hindu agenda.''

But wasn't it a coalition, not an exclusive government of the BJP, that was at the Centre? The acharya's reply was ''We have similar expectations from all the allies in the coalition, not the BJP alone.''

On the proposed ''unity'' of sants to ''strengthen'' the Hindu cause, he said the organisations had also decided to adopt certain villages, where they would oppose the ''evangelisation plan'' of the Christians, who were 'getting millions of dollars from foreign countries.'

Even former finance minister P Chidambaram had said nearly 10,000 missionaries in the country were getting foreign aid, he added.

''According to the Hindu calendar, we will enter 52nd century on March 18 while Christians will begin the 21st century by the end of the year. We have decided to observe the year as Hindu shatabdi (century).''

Commenting on Vajpayee's statement regarding conversions, he said the prime minister's information was 'incomplete and incorrect.'

''He is a human being and he can also be wrongly informed,'' the VHP leader said.

The acharya also touched upon the unification of India and Pakistan: ''When the two Koreas could meet, the two Germanys could unite, why can't India and Pakistan?''

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report