Pravin Togadia on Saturday quit the Vishwa Hindu Parishad after his nominee Raghav Reddy was defeated in the election for the post of president, reported The Times of India. The newly-elected VHP president, VK Kokje, nominated Alok Kumar to replace Togadia as the new international working president of the outfit.

“It is very shocking and saddening to see such a grand VHP that we all built to this fantastic level being made to bend, not for Hindu well-being but for individual whims and fancies of some powermongers,” said Togadia after congratulating the new team, according to The Indian Express.

Advertisement

He announced that he will fast in Ahmedabad from Tuesday to demand a law for the construction of a Ram temple, a common civil code and cow protection rules. “Let us together now take our commitments ahead – commitment to build a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya, to get a law passed in Parliament to ban cow slaughter, to abrogate Articles 370 & 35A in Kashmir, to deport Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims, to make farmers debt free, to make Bharat Ram Rajya,” he added.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is one of the many members of the family of Hindutva organisations affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Founded in 1964, the outfit has never held an election for president, always preferring to fill the post unanimously. On Saturday, Kokje polled 131 votes to defeat Reddy in the elections that were held in Gurugram.

A section of the Sangh’s leadership has been unhappy with Togadia because he has refused to repair ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom he has been at loggerheads for decades. This section of the leadership, considered close to Modi, first moved to oust Togadia by replacing Reddy with Kokje during a meeting of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s board of trustees in Bhubaneswar on December 29.