PM146;s poem pricks Parivar patriarch

8216;8216;Who is he to define Hinduism?8217;8217; asked VHP general secretary Pravin Togadia and senior vice-president Giriraj Kishore. Togadia said Hinduism recognised diversity of opinion and their understanding of Hinduism was based on Vedas, Shastras, interpretations of religious leaders and Supreme Court judgments.

Answering a question on the expression of pain by Vajpayee in his latest poem, Giriraj Kishore said: Jo parivar ki parampara se alag hota hai, use kasht to hota hi hai.8217;8217; Anyone who deviates from the traditions of his family always feels the pain. As for the PM being a member of the Sangh Parivar, Giriraj Kishore said: 8216;8216;I feel he is a member of the NDA. He follows the NDA.8217;8217; Togadia left it to Vajpayee: 8216;8216;Ask the Prime Minister if he is a Parivar member.8221;

Togadia accused Farooq Abdullah of conspiring with 8216;8216;jehadi terrorists8217;8217; to force Hindus to flee from Jammu to Pathankot. He said Abdullah was systematically settling Muslims from the Valley around Jammu in order to encircle it and the attack on Raghunath Temple was a part of this conspiracy. The VHP, according to him, would send a delegation to Jammu on April 3 to assess the situation and, if necessary, launch an agitation thereafter.

Regarding Gujarat, Togadia said the Indian state and secularism had failed the Hindus, who wanted security against jehadi terrorism and not secularism. Therefore, people were making up their mind to defend themselves. He asserted: 8216;8216;What8217;s happening in Gujarat is not communal riots but people8217;s answer to Islamic jehad.8217;8217;

He alleged that the Indian polity, including the NDA, had been practising 8216;8216;one-way secularism8217;8217;. While the killings of Graham Staines and his sons had led to a public uproar, the killings of 58 Ramsevaks at Godhra in a similar manner had not been adequately condemned. He said about 10,000 terrorists had been arrested in Jammu and Kashmir over the past several years but not even one had been convicted so far. 8216;8216;This, naturally, made the Hindus lose faith in the system,8217;8217; he said.

Togadia said the VHP did not justify violence 8216;8216;but what is happening in Gujarat is an upsurge, a rebellion.8217;8217; Unlike the west, the Indian state lacked the resolve to combat terrorism and was bent upon appeasing the Muslim vote bank.

Togadia said Chief Minister Narendra Modi was 8216;8216;doing a great job8217;8217; and the VHP was 8216;8216;satisfied8217;8217; with his performance. Regarding allegations of inaction, he said communal violence in Gujarat in 1985 and 1990 during Congress rule had lasted for six months.8216;I am a natural poet8217;

Patna: If Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee can do it, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav can do it better. 8220;I am a natural poet. I have been reciting poems since my childhood,8221; Yadav told reporters on Monday.

Apparently eager to match Vajpayee8217;s skills in churning out poems, Yadav, known for his oratorial skills, said his talent could be tested at any kavi sammelan in which the Prime Minister is welcome to judge his claim.

He said unlike he PM 8220;mein geet sada gata hoon I recite poems day in and day out.8221; Vajpayee during his Nainital visit had penned 8220;geet nahin gata hoon8221; I don8217;t sing . 8212; PTI