Day after, Togadia just couldn’t care less

As for his personal safety, he said: ‘‘I overcame the fear of death the day I took up the job of VHP general secretary. I presumed, I am already dead. I will be happy to get killed because the day I am bumped off, you would have Bharat as a Hindu Rashtra the next day.’’

‘‘Isolation?’’ ‘‘What isolation?’’ Togadia asked and asserted, ‘‘The Hindu masses are with us. We are their heroes, notwithstanding the post-Godhra campaign against us.’’

He cited the rising VHP membership (now at 25 lakh) to underline the fact that ‘‘it’s our opponents who are fast getting isolated.’’

The fundamentalist label does not concern him, he said. ‘‘I am not a chaprasi or a clerk to bother about what others say about me. I am a leader. I speak, what I feel is the truth. Would Ram decide his conduct after taking a certificate from Ravan? Do I need any endorsement from these secularists? How are we fundamentalists when we believe in an ever-changing social order? We are training over 15,000 non-Brahmins as priests. We stand for more than equal rights for women as compared to men.’’

He, however, refused to state why the Parishad was targeting Vajpayee and his Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra, preferring to respond instead only with a highly-loaded: ‘‘Wait and see.’’

Quizzed about the prospect of a ban, he retorted: ‘‘When has been the atmosphere favourable to us? Tomorrow, if Sonia Gandhi or Jyoti Basu happen to be the PM, what do you think they can do to us? The Government had to negotiate with even insurgents in Mizoram and Nagaland because they enjoyed popular support. We represent core Hindu society. Who would be able to rule this country by throttling us?’’

What if his Z-plus security was withdrawn by another government in Gujarat? Togadia said that he was not scared of any threat to his life.

‘‘I never asked for security. I overcame fear of death the day I accepted the job of VHP general secretary. I presumed, I am dead. I have already removed my head.’’