Temple work to start by 2001: VHP

The Acharya was in the city to participate in an all-India sadhvis’ conference, currently on at nearby Sokhda village, which has drawn more than 100 VHP activists from different parts of the country. Issues being discussed include reinforcing the Parishad’s activities.

VHP officials said senior leaders including Sadhvi Rithambara, Uma Bharati and Ashok Singhal would be participating in the concluding session on October 29.

Addressing the Sadhvis at the Haridham temple at Sokhda village, the Acharya called for the spread of the message of unityamong Hindus in general and women in particular. Several senior VHP leaders including general secretary Dr Praveen Togadia and vice-president Dahyabhai Shastri were present on the occasion.

Later, at the press conference, the Acharya said he stood by the performance of the BJP Government at the Centre and said several problems, including inflation, had been created and exacerbated by previous Governments. The BJP Government, he added, was only trying to improve the situation.

Speaking on the violence in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East, the Acharya alleged that members of two different communities were intensifying their anti-national and anti-Hindu activities there and were being supported by people living abroad. These people, he alleged, had framed targets to set up more religious places and convert Hindus into their religions, he said.

“The VHP knows about this and is trying its level best to check it with more vigour now,” he said. He gave details of the 2,500 VHP projects under way invarious fields including education and social awareness which, he said, involved more than 45 lakh active members today.

He said a five-day national-level `ved sammelan’ would be held in New Delhi from December, and VHP leaders will hold a three-day meet in Jaipur from December 28. While members of the VHP Dharm Sansad will meet in Ahmedabad on February 5, a three-day international meet of Hindu and Bodhh leaders would be held at Lumbini (near Nepal) from March 5, he said.

The Acharya added that special efforts were under way to check anti-national and anti-Hindu activities in North-Eastern states, including Nagaland.