On a high, Hindu outfits plan wider reach in UP

“As the government at the Centre is led by the BJP, which has a nationalist ideology, we are hopeful it will address issues relating to Hindus,” said HYV media in-charge R P Singh. These include cow slaughter, religious conversion, demographics, and terrorism.

The VHP has revived after 10 years its state-level training sessions for new members, holding one in Lucknow. Workers from all four regions — Awadh, Kanpur, Goraksh and Kashi — participated in the 10-day camp that began in Lucknow Sunday. “New members will be trained to introduce more new people. They will be briefed on contemporary issues and programmes being run for stopping conversion of Hindus, for security of temples and for construction of a temple in Ayodhya,” said Sharad Sharma, VHP media-in-charge. VHP president Pravin Togadia will attend the concluding session on June 17.

The ABVP, meanwhile, has restructured its setup from three regional units (west, central and eastern UP) to six, these being Gorakhpur, Kashi, Awadh, Kanpur, Braj and Meerut. “A lot of new people have joined us in the last few days and a meeting of the office-bearers of the new regional units will be organised to decide our future organisational plans,” said the ABVP’s UP regional organisational secretary Dharampal Singh.