CHENNAI: Claiming that there could be no Hindu dignity until the Ram Mandir was constructed and a complete ban imposed on cow slaughter in India, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) executive president Pravin Togadia on Sunday expressed regret that his organisation could not protect the Hindus in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan.
His remarks came at the Hindu Unity Conference organised by the VHP in the city to mark its golden jubilee.
After the Modi government’s advent to power at the Centre, the Hindu outfit appears to be flexing its muscle in South India, with Sunday’s meet being the first in a series of conferences planned for the region.
Setting an aggressive tone, Togadia said the VHP movement was started to find solutions to questions faced by the country. “During the last 50 years, we have tried to answer the questions. To some extent, we have but there are so many that we have not been able to,” he rued. “Untouchability still prevails. The Scheduled Castes continue to face discrimination.”
He also pointed to the declining percentage of population of Hindus in many countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. “We could not protect the Sinhala Hindus. Today, there are 70,000 Hindu widows in Sri Lanka,” he said.
The VHP’s objective was to regain the lost supremacy and prosperity of Hindu society, the senior leader said. Hence, the focus would be on four aspects: to ensure that every Hindu family gets nutritious food; that no Hindu woman suffers from malnourishment; that every child gets good education and every Hindu youth gets a job.
The VHP was already providing free education to 20 lakh children in 53,000 villages in the country, he pointed out. “We run 157 hostels for boys and girls and we resolve to increase them to 400. We also run hospitals where free treatment is given to patients.”
Earlier, Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan said the only way to stop conversion was by ending untouchability and caste wars among the Hindus.