For the first time in six years, since he left the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), firebrand right-wing leader Praveen Togadia met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat last Sunday. The two have decided to work together to “unite Hindus”.
An Ahmedabad-based cancer surgeon and a former Swayamsevak, Mr. Togadia had resigned from the post of VHP’s international president in 2018 after his relationship with the Sangh Parivar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi soured. He remained in the VHP for 35 years and was a key player in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rise in Gujarat. An open critic of the Prime Minister, Mr. Togadia founded the Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) after leaving the RSS.
“The Ram temple movement has achieved its goal to unite Hindus above caste equations across India. But now, after the culmination of the movement, it is being felt that the Hindu is again going back to square one and the same needs to be checked. Both I and the RSS chief shared the same feelings on this issue,” Mr. Togadia told The Hindu.
The Ram Temple was a poll promise of the BJP for decades. However, the party did not reap much electoral benefits and got the least number of seats in the Lok Sabha election ever since it came to power at the Centre in 2014.
This story was originally published in thehindu.com. Read the full story here.
