Last Updated:
The VHP has so far contacted more than a whopping 350 MPs during the winter session of Parliament and discussed three different topics related to Hindu society.
By asking for facilities like Hindu religious educational institutions much on the line of other minorities, the VHP is resonating the organisation’s 1964 slogan — Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah. (Representational Image: PTI)
Even as the winter session of Parliament went down the drain amid the shrill cacophony, amid loud arguments on the Constitution and Ambedkar that even led to an alleged blow — someone was quietly doing their job. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad – an RSS subsidiary – has been actively and quietly reaching out to Parliamentarians with one target — saffron unity that is in sync with BJP’s ‘Ek hai to Safe hai’ slogan.
The VHP has so far contacted more than a whopping 350 MPs during the winter session of Parliament and discussed three different topics related to Hindu society. The Secretary General of VHP, Bajrang Lal Bagra, said that during this campaign, cadres from different states, speaking different languages and belonging to varied sects discussed with the MPs the topics of the liberation of temples from government control, Waqf Amendment Bill and extending the privileges given to minorities under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution, to the Hindu society as well.
The whole reach-out was organised between December 2 and December 20 and MPs from different states were approached in phases. In its first phase from December 2 to 6, VHP cadres from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal and Maharashtra contacted a total of 114 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs.
In the second phase from December 9 to 13, cadres from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir contacted a total of 139 MPs of these states.
The third and final phase of the campaign began from December 16. In this, cadres from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland are currently contacting their MPs in the national capital. This three-phased meticulous campaign will be completed today.
The VHP chose three issues that they thought would serve the ‘Hindu cause’:
1. All Hindu temples which are under the control of the governments should be handed over to the Hindu society.
2. Amendments and MPs should rationalise waqf law to support that.
3. Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution, which allow the minority community to run their religious educational institutions, similar facilities should be given to the Hindu society as well because only Hindus are deprived of this right.
Multiple Indian states have laws that give them ample say in the management of temples, their expenses, and income. Earlier this year, BJP vice-president Subhash Sharma on Monday wrote a letter to chief minister Bhagwant Mann, demanding that Hindu religious places be freed from government control and handed over to Hindu society. The recent controversy regarding the Tirupati laddu, a sacred offering at the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, has highlighted the issue of government control over Hindu temples. Now, VHP officially wants an end to it.
The Modi government has already proposed an amendment to Waqf law, stirring a hornet’s nest, and forcing them to send the matter to the Joint Parliamentary Committee. On both these counts, the VHP is pushing the government’s agenda. By asking for facilities like Hindu religious educational institutions much on the line of other minorities, the VHP is resonating the organisation’s 1964 slogan — Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah — which translates into ‘Dharma protects those who protect it’ and helps establish a subtle fear psychosis that ‘Ek rehna hai’ (we must remain one). RSS affiliates are doing their jobs in radio silence.
