Ali Asghar Zaveri, a Muslim businessman who had purchased a sprawling bungalow in Bhavnagar's Krishna Nagar in 2014, has finally let go off his prized property, under duress from the VHP. Prasanna Zore reports on how the VHP went about its task.
Praveen Togadia has said that it metes out injustice.
A year ago, VHP international president Pravin Togadia had allegedly advised VHP members and other residents of that area to insult Muslims to make them vacate their properties in areas dominated by the majority community.
"I am being targeted for a decade-old case, there is an attempt to suppress my voice. Rajasthan Police team came to arrest me. Someone told me plan was being made to kill me in an encounter," the VHP president claimed.
The VHP has felicitated parents who have more than half a dozen children.
'The VHP can establish a forum for providing political protection umbrella to Hindus after Deepawali in November,' Praveen Togadia, said.
Undeterred by the ban imposed by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday said that it will go ahead with its proposed 'Sankalp Diwas' to take a resolve to launch an agitation for rebuilding the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Modi hasn't raised or encouraged the raising of slogans such as 'Jai Sri Ram' at public meetings
Veteran Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal has been replaced as the international president of the organisation while its general secretary Pravin Togadia was given a greater responsibility.
The VHP said that those who came to power riding on the Hindu vote and promising common civil code, abolition of Article 370 and constructing Ram Temple at Ayodhya, forgot their pledges, making the Hindu society more insecure.\n
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad declared on Thursday that the 84th kosi parikrama yatra at Ayodhya would take place as per schedule and the Uttar Pradesh government would have to face dire consequences if it tried to obstruct it, a VHP spokesperson said.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was involved in the Ram Janma Bhoomi movement which led to the Babri Mosque demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, VHP chief Ashok Singhal said on Friday.
The police have arrested 10 persons, including a Bajrang Dal member, for allegedly vandalising the Congress's office in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during a protest against the party's poll promise in Karnataka to act against the right-wing outfit, an official said on Friday.
Security forces were maintaining a strict vigil across West Bengal in view of Hanuman Jayanti celebrations on Thursday, officials said.
Charging the Centre with appeasing minorities for electoral gains, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Saturday called for a nationwide agitation to highlight the 'oppression of Hindus'."On one hand, the government is not executing death sentence to Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and on the other it is torturing an innocent person like Sadhvi Pragya Singh, who has been falsely implicated in the Malegaon blast case," VHP leader Venkatesh Abdev said.
A paper found in the assailant's pocket had VHP written on it.
The poor turnout of volunteers made it evident that the 'parikrama' had failed to evoke interest among the local population, reports Sharat Pradhan
Dismissing as "irrelevant" and "illogical" a Vishwa Hindu Parishad letter seeking a fatwa declaring India as a friend of Islam, Muslim groups said on Monday that the country does not belong to any particular community and Muslims are very much sons of the soil.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday criticised Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for his recent remarks on yoga guru Baba Ramdev, asking him to come clean on the source of funding for his activities. "The Congress party has never acknowledged the contributions of Hindu saints towards preserving the nation's moral fabric. Digvijay Singh's recent remarks against Baba Ramdev are yet another instance of showing disrespect to Hindu saints and their contributions," he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Yogi Adityanath and 24 others accompanying him to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's 'Sankalap Diwas' rally in Ayodhya were on Friday arrested at the railway station in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, as a preventive measure, police said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday questioned the Centre's assertion before the Supreme Court that Lord Ram himself had destroyed the Ram Setu (Adam's bridge) and said it was a distortion of history."Nowhere in the Kamba Ramayan is it mentioned that Lord Ram destroyed the bridge. It is to appease Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whose party is a partner in UPA, that Centre is doing such things," VHP president Ashok Singhal said.
Bajrangi alias Raj Kumar was arrested from Faridabad on August 15 after a fresh FIR was registered against him at Nuh's Sadar Police Sation on a complaint of Assistant Superintendent of Police Usha Kundu.
Nearly 450 people were picked up at the Ayodhya and Faizabad railway stations, 400 in Varanasi and 350 in Allahabad as authorites hinted at seeking the army's help if the situation so warranted.
Once Ram temple is built it will become a 'ghoshit (declared) Hindu Rashtra', a VHP leader told the gathering.
Speaking to reporters in Kolkata, VHP vice-president Giriraj Kishore said hundreds of thousands of 'Ram Bhakts' would be involved in the construction of the temple.
A day after Supreme Court deferred the ruling of the Allahabad High Court on the title of the disputed shrine in Ayodhya, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday said it would not allow construction of any new mosque in Ayodhya. The decision was taken at a meeting of 45 religious leaders, who are part of the Sant Uchadhikar Samiti (SUS), in Delhi on Friday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks on possible autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday came under sharp criticism from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and former Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Ram Vilas Vedanti on Friday issued a 'fatwa' against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for his statement challenging the existence of Lord Ram.
The World Hindu Congress on Friday renounced the word Hinduism, contending that the term reflected oppressive and discriminatory and embraced Hindutva and Hindu Dharma to refer to the 'eternal' religion.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday urged the Hindus to mobilise the opinion of the community, put pressure and demand that Parliament pass a legislation to construct the Lord Rama temple at Ram Janmabhoomi at Ayodhya.
Speaking to reporters in Jammu, VHP international president Ashok Singhal said Vajpayee has weakened the country and has shown little regard for the Hindu sentiment
Top VHP leaders, including Ashok Singhal, Pravin Togadia and Giriraj Kishore, have already in Kolkata for the event.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested Gujarat police officer G L Singhal in connection with the alleged fake encounter of 19-year old student Ishrat Jahan by a team of Ahmedabad crime branch officers in 2004.
Addressing the concluding session of the two-day meeting of the Vishva Hindu Parishad's (VHP) Kendriya Margadarshak Mandal in Haridwar, Dhami said, "Uttarakhand shares its borders with two countries (China and Nepal). A particular community had illegally encroached land and raised structures in the border areas of the state which are being removed as part of a drive."
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday backed the BVishwa Hindu parishad's resolution for building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying its construction is like establishing the 'Indian identity'.
If the government plan goes through, the trustees will have no say in temple affairs.
At a function in Salem on Friday, Karunanidhi had stated that Lord Ram was an imaginary character.
With the Allahabad High Court likely to deliver its verdict on Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque title suit next month, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad rooted for a legislation to pave the way for construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya.