VHP, Modi: more con than conflict

As Acharya Dharmendra put it to the VHP and Bajrang Dal ranks, urging restraint: 8216;8216;After 25 days, these policemen will be ours. Now, they have orders from the government and Lyngdoh. So don8217;t attack them when we are arrested.8217;8217;

And during the puja, the Acharya told the policemen gathered there, 8216;8216;Well, we can handle this puja without the police. But since you are here, why don8217;t you all raise your hands and shout Jai Shri Ram!8217;8217;

With its Yatra stalled, the VHP has changed its strategy and will now embark on a state-wide programme of public meetings to mobilise Hindus in favour of the BJP. According to sources, the VHP, defying the Election Commission, would hammer the Godhra carnage issue at its meetings and ask people to defeat 8216;anti-Hindu forces8217;. In order to ensure that the BJP does not attract any adverse action by the Commission, VHP leaders would avoid mentioning its name.

That8217;s what Togadia did today when, addressing VHP supporters, he claimed December 12 was his birthday and that the best birthday gift people could give him would be to vote for the party that would support the cause of Hindu Rashtra he did not name the BJP. He added that the assembly elections in Gujarat would prove to be Sonia8217;s Waterloo.

In New Delhi, VHP vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore didn8217;t indulge in any rhetoric while reacting to the Gujarat government8217;s action. 8216;8216;The Gujarat government had no choice after the directive of the Chief Election Commissioner,8217;8217; he said. He confirmed their revised programme, saying it 8216;8216;would be peaceful and violence would not be allowed at any cost8217;8217;.

Also arrested with Togadia and Acharya Dharmendra were Sant Avichaldasji of the Sarsa Pith and 45 VHP and Bajrang Dal workers.

Police said they were firmly implementing the EC8217;s order banning VHP8217;s Yatra. However, 50 workers had been allowed into the temple compound, while a few hundred had gathered outside. Togadia and the others arrested with him, at about 11:45 am, were taken to the police headquarters at Shahibaug and produced before a magistrate at about 3:45 p.m. They were released at 4 p.m. Togadia and other VHP leaders then headed straight for the VHP office in Paldi. VHP joint general-secretary Kaushik Mehta said their leaders would meet tomorrow to decide on their course of action. Before their arrest, Togadia and Acharya Dharmendra spewed venom at CEC J.M. Lyngdoh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, GPCC president S S Vaghela, and even PM Vajpayee. Togadia said, 8216;8216;There is only one way to fight jehad, and that is to create a Hindu Rashtra. I pledge today that we will ensure that Pakistan is wiped off the map.8217;8217;

He said India needed leaders like George Bush, Vladimir Putin, Ariel Sharon, and Shivaji Maharaj. 8216;8216;What prevents our leaders from launching an all-out attack against terrorism?8217;8217; he asked.

Of Vajpayee, who has been critical of the VHP8217;s opposition to the EC order, Acharya Dharmendra said, 8216;8216;I have deleted his name from the memory of my mind8217;s computer.8217;8217;

About Vajpayee offering to campaign in Gujarat if invited, he said, 8216;8216;Why the big 8216;if8217;? Why does he say he will come to Gujarat only if he8217;s called?8217;8217; Now, it remains to be seen how the EC would deal with the VHP8217;s revised strategy. Since the VHP plans unleashing a battery of its leaders to fan out in the state, pre-empting their meetings would be quite a challenge. Those listed to address meetings include Togadia, secretary Surendra Jain, Bajrang Dal chief Prakash Sharma and Acharya Dharmendra.

The highlight of the programme would be a massive rally to be addressed by VHP president Ashok Singhal at Ahmedabad on December 6, which is planned to be celebrated as Vijay Divas to commemorate the demolition of Babri Masjid 10 years ago.