A fundraiser launched to support Nagamallaiah's wife, Nisha, and 18-year-old son, Gaurav - who witnessed the attack - has raised nearly $200,000, at last reckoning, to help cover funeral expenses and Gaurav's college education.
A delegation representing the Ram Temple Trust on Friday called on President Droupadi Murmu and formally invited her to attend the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.
Bharti had been in the forefront of the 'Hindu andolan' especially during the Ayyodhya movement, he said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is planning to introduce toll-free helpline in Hindu pilgrim centres across the country.
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.
"Whatever the sants decide, we will certainly execute that," VHP vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad will declare Gujarat a "Hindu state" by 2015 besides having its presence in all 18,000 villages of the state in the next two years, the outfit's leader Pravin Togadia claimed.
The VHP leader, at a rally in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, had demanded installation of a Datta idol at Bababudanagiri, the Hindu-Muslim shrine.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday accused the Congress-led government of trying to "malign the image of Hindu leaders by terming them as terrorists" and claimed it was the 'greatest lie' that Swami Aseemanand has confessed to the Samjauta Express blast."We are trying to enlighten the people. If the Congress tries to entangle Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders, then a movement will be started against them (Congress)," said Ashok Singhal
He also described the foisting of murder cases against Kanchi Shankaracharyas and their arrest as the 'greatest insult' heaped on the Hindus in this century.
'Regarding the attacks on churches, I can say that most were politically motivated. When some activists were protesting against conversions, vested interests in some cases have taken advantage and gone on a rampage. I blame the politicians for this,' says M B Puranik, VHP's Karnataka convenor
Terror activities of some right-wing groups and Maoist violence will be high on agenda at the Chief Ministers' conference on internal security to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on February 1.
Togadia also urged the Nitish Kumar-led government to take immediate steps to check ISI activities and make concerted efforts to tone up the administration to tackle the law and order problem.
The VHP international working president said politicising the yatra damaged the Hindutva cause and turned the Ram Janambhoomi into a single party affair.
Vowing not to give an 'inch of land belonging to Lord Jagannath of Puri' for the proposed Vedanta University in Orissa, Vishwa Hindu Parishad international secretary General Pravin Bhai Togadia on Wednesday said his outfit would fight tooth and nail to protect the 'land of the Lord'. "We vehemently oppose the move of the Naveen Patnaik-led government to hand over thousands of acres of land belonging to Lord Jagannath and the VHP," he said.
The Special Investigation Team probing the alleged role of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in post-Godhra killing of ex-Congress Member of Parliament Ehasan Jafri on Friday submitted its report to the Supreme Court.
The special Rae Bareli court on September 19 had framed charges against them in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
VHP leader Pravin Togadia insisted any negotiated settlement should involve handing over the disputed site to Hindus unconditionally.
The only way to solve it is through a legislation, Pravin Togadia said.
The meeting came a day after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, set up recently to oversee the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, met for the first time on Wednesday.
Asked about VHP's future plan of action, the leader asked the media to wait till January two when it would "play its 'Hindu card' for political parties" with its charter of demands.
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.
The South Asia Solidarity has asked the British government to withdraw the status of the Sewa International and the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Saturday demanded snapping all kinds of bilateral relations with Pakistan in view of killing of two Indian soldiers at the Line of Control in Kashmir by the neighbouring country.
After Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat's remarks that rapes were prevalent in India and not in Bharat, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad blamed the 'western model' of lifestyle for growing incidents of sexual assault on women including rape, saying cities were losing the values.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Saturday demanded that a grand Ram temple be built in the 67 acre plot surrounding the disputed site in Ayodhya and said 'no new mosque' can be built there as it has been established as the birth place of Lord Ram.
From someone who broke minority assertiveness in Gujarat to someone who eschews caste and creed for national pride -- this is how Narendra Modi bids to win over India, says Gyan Varma
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks on possible autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday came under sharp criticism from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
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.
Following the threat held out by Praveen Togadia, international general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad that he would lead massive demonstrations if the Delhi government decided to serve beef to the foreign nationals taking part in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, Sheila Dixit's government has bowed to Togadia.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Wednesday backed the Shiv Sena's protest against Shah Rukh Khan, saying there was 'nothing wrong' in it as the country is not prepared to tolerate a 'Pakistani sympathiser'. VHP international general secretary Praveen Togadia, however, opposed Sena's 'Mumbai for Marathis' campaign. "Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, belongs to the entire country," he said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday came in defence of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, prime accused in the Malegaon blasts, and called the imposition of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against them as 'political conspiracy'.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday said it was disappointed by the Gujarat court's decision to award death penalty to only 11 convicts in the Godhra train burning case and asked the state government to appeal against the verdict.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Thursday said its volunteers were active in Gandhian Anna Hazare's movement against corruption in Delhi last year.
"As the government has failed in matters of internal security, the Bajrang Dal has started constituting security committees," Surendra Jain, a spokesman of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a sister Sangh Parivar outfit, told PTI in Lucknow on Wednesday.
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.
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party made it clear that the party does not subscribe to the views expressed by Dr Pravin Togadia, International general secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, who said at Ahmedabad that those who convert Hindus should be beheaded. Surprisingly, none of them were willing to go on record.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists on Friday tore down the posters of Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'My Name is Khan' and caused ruckus in a bid to halt the release of the film in Ahmedabad and Jamnagar in Gujarat.
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