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Journalism of Courage
AHMEDABAD, Feb 7: It began with the demand for a ban on conversions and other activities of Christian missionaries on Friday. Today, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Dharmasansad ended with an appeal to Hindu saints to counter conversions.
But the VHP is not confining itself to mere appeals; the contours of an action plan, inspired by Swami Aseemanand of the Dangs fame, are visible. In fact, before the curtain came down on the Dharmasansad, the VHP had already identified about 120 specific areas in various states and allotted these to different saints. In his parting message, Acharya Dharmendra asked the saints not to look at the Centre or state governments for help, regard themselves as “the army of God”, spread out in the country, and expand the “kingdom of God” by working for tribals’ welfare, reconverting those who had strayed away, and countering the influence of “beef-eaters who are financed by European countries, or petro-dollars”. The target areas are in Gujarat, Karnataka, Assam, Orissa, AndhraPradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jammu, Manipur and Arunachal. Nobody spelled out who will foot the bill. But Acharya Dharmendra told the saints, “money will come to you, you will just have to collect it”.
Acharya Avichaldas, who presided over the day’s proceedings, however, said more important than money was the need to reach out to the adivasis, and to give them “a sense of belonging”.
Both were speaking on the last item on the Dharmsansad’s agenda — a resolution urging the saints to bring about a “total transformation” of the Hindu society, which was being invaded by the “conspiracies of international Christian and Islamic expansionism”, and weakened by internal contradictions and distortions.
Clearly, construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya has been put on the backburner. Although a resolution reiterated the VHP’s commitment to it, Shri Ramjanmabhoomi Trust president Paramhans Ramchandradas said construction would be taken up only aftercompletion of the work of stone carving, which would take three years. Another resolution called for greater coordination between Hindus and Budhhists. It was moved by a Buddhist monk Bhante Gyan Jagat. Acharya Giriraj Kishore, VHP vice-president, said they did not regard conversion of Dalits to Buddhism as a threat, because Buddhists do not look towards “Rome or Mecca for inspiration”.
Asked about the VHP decision to revive its 40-point Hindu agenda, which was first adopted in the early ’90s, Acharya Giriraj Kishore said, “Sometimes it is necessary to re-state the truth”. The VHP believed that political authority should draw inspiration from religious authority, he added.At the same time, Acharya Giriraj Kishore said they realised the Vajpayee Government could not implement the Hindu agenda as “it is dependent on crutches”. If the BJP wanted, the VHP could help it get rid of the crutches “by consolidating a Hindu vote bank”, Giriraj Kishore said. The next important programme of the VHP, saidGiriraj Kishore, was the proposed march of Hindu saints against the Madhya Pradesh Government’s decision to bring legislation to constitute a management board for running Hindu shrines. It would begin from Ujjain on April 5 and conclude at Bhopal on April 7.
