© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday showered praise on the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab as well as the Centre for cracking down on Waris Punjab De leader Amritpal Singh. At a celebration of the Hindu New Year, the Sangh Parivar affiliate said the Punjab government had shown “willpower and determination” in action against the self-styled preacher.
“In the past two days, the willpower and determination shown by Punjab, and the way the Centre and Punjab have together taken those challenging India’s integrity head-on, it is something to celebrate. Some people had created this hype (about Amritpal). And now this hype has come crashing down so fast that people are asking where are those who were ready to fight,” VHP working president Alok Kumar said.
The statement is significant as the BJP has long accused the AAP of “hobnobbing” with Khalistani operatives, and the Bhagwant Mann government of being soft on radical elements.
Alok Kumar criticised protests abroad and attacks on Indian missions in the UK by alleged pro-Khalistan elements, and lauded the Centre for registering its protest with London over it. “At present, the country’s PM is an Indian and a proud Hindu. At this time we have to all come together and agree that the nation’s issues cannot be issues of dispute. All parties must come together and take a stand as one on the issue of the new business of Khalistan in Canada and the UK.”
VHP general secretary Milind Parande, who also addressed the gathering, said that given the “conducive” environment for Hindutva, the organisation had made significant expansion, growing by “100% in the past one year”. Parande said the VHP had reached 1.33 lakh villages while 72 lakh people had joined it.
VHP international joint general secretary Surendra Jain said this year was the year of “Hindu awakening”, when a lot of “unsolved” issues were going to be resolved, including inauguration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.
“In every sphere of life, the Hindu is leading. As the Hindu gets strengthened, so does the nation. This is indigestible for anti-national forces. So these forces, both inside and outside the country, are functioning as a toolkit gang. Someone is abusing the country, someone is putting a question mark on our integrity, someone is raising doubts over our scriptures and some are even abusing our great leaders. But they must all know that they are fighting a losing battle,” Jain said.
Recently, attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comments on Indian democracy abroad, for which the party is demanding an apology, BJP president J P Nadda said Rahul had become “a permanent part” of an “anti-nationalist toolkit”.
