Vishwa Hindu Parishad International Working President Pravin Togadia on Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Togadia also demanded a total ban on cow slaughter in the country, the withdrawal of the advisory issued against cow vigilantes, the imposition of a Uniform Civil Code and the removal of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which relates to autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir.
In a lengthy letter addressed to the prime minister, Togadia also said the government should hand over the administration of temples to temple trusts, and deport “Muslim infiltrators” from Bangladesh who “live happily in Assam and control 19 constituencies”.
Reminding Modi of their “good relationship”, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader also asked the prime minister to meet him for a “heart-to-heart dialogue over a simple cup of tea”. “There are umpteen matters that concern the nation. Those could be sorted out by sitting together, discussing and finding a joint solution,” Togadia said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad claimed that while he and Modi were on good terms till 2002, they had drifted apart later. He alleged that the BJP-led government had turned its back on Hindus who had voted the party to power to fulfill the “Hindutva dream”.
On the matter of the agrarian crisis, Togadia said that farmers must get 1.5 times the cost of their total expenditure on producing crops. He added that no Goods and Services Tax should be imposed on any agricultural equipment, and that farmers should be provided electricity supply in the daytime, non-stop water supply and crop insurance.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader said that the Centre should waive all farm loans even though such waiver may not be a long-term solution to the agrarian distress, and offer a monthly pension for farmers over the age of 60.
A car carrying Togadia was hit by a truck in Surat district on March 7, leading the VHP chief to claim that the BJP-led government in Gujarat had weakened his security cover “deliberately”, as part of a conspiracy to kill him.
In January, Togadia had gone missing for hours, after which he had alleged that someone had informed him about a plan to kill him in an encounter. He had alleged that attempts were being made to stop him from speaking on matters including the Ayodhya dispute, welfare schemes for farmers and the law on cow slaughter.
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