The Hindu : VHP calls Vajpayee a 'pseudo-Hindu'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 03, 2003

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VHP calls Vajpayee a 'pseudo-Hindu'

By Neena Vyas

Giriraj Kishore

NEW DELHI JAN. 2. Acharya Giriraj Kishore, senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, today hit out at the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, describing him as a "pseudo-Hindu''. He then added that he saw "no difference'' between Mr. Vajpayee and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, like other political parties, was not interested in any cause, Hindutva or any other, it was only interested in power, he said. "Those who are in politics, those who make deals and compromises to get political mileage and stay in power have no right to criticise or judge others as extremist or fundamentalist,'' Acharya Kishore said.

Addressing a press conference here, he took exception to Mr. Vajpayee's musings from Goa on New Year's eve that it was "unfortunate and unacceptable'' that Hindutva was "being projected by some people in a narrow, rigid and extremist manner.''

Acharya Kishore said: "In Goa, a new interpretation of Hindutva was given by the Prime Minister. In his view, Hindus were not liberal but fanatic or fundamental. But to describe a reaction to an action (the massacres in Gujarat as a reaction to the Godhra carnage) as `kattarvad' (fundamentalist) is wrong.'' Those politicians who themselves made deals and compromises to get political mileage and stay in power had no right to judge others. "I would say such people are pseudo-Hindus.''

Asked whether he was describing Mr. Vajpayee as a "pseudo-Hindu'', he replied that "he (PM) did not mention the VHP when he made his comments from Goa, similarly I am not mentioning him by name.'' But it was made as clear as possible that the description of "pseudo-Hindu'' was meant for Mr. Vajpayee.

Apparently, ever since the fiasco of the `shila daan' in Ayodhya organised by the VHP in March 2002, there has been no contact in person or even by telephone between senior VHP leaders and Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Advani. Unhonen hame dhoka diya hai (they betrayed and cheated us), he said. "The Prime Minister had promised he would resolve the Ayodhya tangle and give us land which belonged to us (before it was acquired by the Centre) but later he backtracked and said he had never made any promise.'' Since then communication between him and the VHP leadership had completely broken down.

Referring to the recent meeting of the VHP's central organising committee in Pune, Acharya Kishore said Hindu religious leaders would meet here for three days from February 22 to take a decision on starting construction for a Ram temple, and "even if a hundred governments fall, we will continue with our struggle for the cause of the Ram temple.'' The VHP would help implement whatever the `dharam sansad' (religious parliament) of `sants' decide, and for this a three-member committee headed by S.C. Dixit, retired IPS officer and former MP from Varanasi, had been set up.

On Mr. Advani, the VHP leader said that when "some people'' began to describe him as Sardar Patel-II, "I had even at that time said `let him first act like Sardar Patel', but now we see daily attacks by terrorists who have become emboldened... He is no different from Vajpayee.''

Ultimatum on Ayodhya

Serving an ultimatum to the BJP-led NDA Government, Acharya Kishore said the Centre should return the ``undisputed'' land it had acquired in Ayodhya before February 22 or "face a confrontation".

``The Margdarshak Mandal is meeting on February 21, while the Dharam Sansad is meeting from February 22 to 24 to discuss the Ayodhya issue. We demand that our land be returned to us before that,'' he said.

``We have no faith in the words of politicians. We will follow every word of the decisions taken by the Dharam Sansad,'' he added.

To a question on similar announcements made by VHP last year ahead of its much-hyped `shila daan' on March 15, he said, "This time we are prepared for the worst. At the most, they may arrest us or open fire on us. We are ready for that.''

`DMK unconvinced'

Our Chennai Special Correspondent reports:

Despite the explanation offered by Mr. Vajpayee on Hindutva, the DMK remains unconvinced as it feels that the acts of communal divisiveness and denial of human rights carried out in the name of Hindutva, were not in harmony with the description.

"Even if acts against rational thought, creating of rift between castes and religious groups and denial of human rights are termed `Dravidatva' they are unacceptable to me,'' the DMK president, M. Karunanidhi, today said when asked for his comments on Mr. Vajpayee's musings. This, he said, was not merely a reply to the musings, but to the entire Hindutva debate that was on in the country.

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