Pune: Controversial figure Praveen Togadia, International Working President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), said that the BJP lost in the Phulpur and Gorakhpu Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh during the recently held by-polls because the party failed to deliver on the promise of building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. He was speaking at a press conference in the city on Monday.
Togadia, who took a halt in the city while travelling from Nagpur to Ahmedabad and addressed a press conference, said that the Ram Mandir issue was the rallying point for voters of the saffron party.
“Every party has its core voters. You have to understand what they voted for. Development and progress were other issues, yes, but the core voter voted for the BJP with a majority so that it could deliver on the promised Ram Temple in Ayodhya,” Togadia said, adding, “The BJP is hurting its core Hindu voters by not delivering on its promise.”
Togadia further said that the BJP is now speaking like the Congress. “They are in power and they are talking of waiting for the court verdict. They sound just like the Congress. If they wanted to wait for the court orders, what did the Kar Sevaks make sacrifices for? What was the need for so many people to die if they wanted a court order? We could have appointed a lawyer instead,” Togadia said.
Togadia said that waiting for a court order implicitly meant speaking in favour of Babri Masjid. “There is a clause that I have found because of which if the court rules in favour of Hindus, the temple with get only 1,100 metres (sic), while the mosque will be allotted 67 acres. This means that those going according to the court’s orders are implicitly in favour of a mosque bigger than the Ram Temple,” Togadia further said.
Togadia also underlined about the rift between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We thought that a majority government will mean that constitutionally a law will be passed to allow the Ram Mandir. Now we see Narendra Bhai, my elder brother, has forgotten all about his promise,” Togadia said, further adding, “When he wasn’t allowed in Gujarat, I took him around on a scooter, but since 2005, my elder brother seems to have forgotten me. The prime minister could do some ‘Chai pe charcha’ with me too someday.”
