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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s defeat in the Delhi Assembly polls has made Sangh Parivar affiliates such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), more determined to push their contentious agenda, including the ‘ghar wapsi’ campaign.
VHP believes the Delhi mandate is a signal that outfits like the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini need to pursue their “cultural” agenda unhindered.
The Hindu Mahasabha, although not a part of the Sangh Parivar, has decided to launch a campaign on the coming Valentine’s Day to “marry off” couples found celebrating the “foreign festival”. Coincidentally, Arvind Kejriwal will be sworn in as the Delhi chief minister on that day at the Ramlila Maidan.
VHP is focusing on its ongoing 50-year celebrations, which includes organising “Hindu congregations” across India. One such event concluded earlier this week in Varanasi, and a ‘Virat Hindu Sammelan’ is planned in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on March 1.
Surendra Jain, VHP joint general secretary, believes it is incorrect to interpret the Delhi vote as a mandate against the Sangh Parivar’s core agenda, including its ‘ghar wapsi’ campaign. “If anything, the vote showed how the BJP’s support base is unshaken. The defeat was the result of anti-BJP forces having consolidated,” Jain said.
There was little change in the BJP’s vote share in the 2013 and the just concluded Delhi Assembly polls, he said.
“That the BJP lost because of ‘ghar wapsi’ is an assessment by pseudo-seculars with no understanding of the ground reality,” Jain said. The defeat, Jain said, was a result of “hara kiri” by the Congress and support of anti-BJP forces like Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, and the Communists. “We have been conducting ‘ghar wapsi’ campaigns for the past 48 years. It would not have been possible to continue these without the support of the people,” Jain said, adding ‘ghar wapsi’ was “pro-development” because it brought Muslims into the “mainstream”, while religious conversions were anti-development.
“I can tell you there will be no change in the approach of the VHP,” Jain said. He added the BJP and VHP pursued their agendas independently, some of which, like construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, anti-cow slaughter campaign and deporting Bangladeshi immigrants, were common.
Sangh Parivar affiliates like the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh have their concerns about the National Democratic Alliance government’s pro-reforms agenda, but are unwilling to interpret the Delhi mandate in that perspective. A senior leader of one of these outfits said they did not comment on political developments.
