VHP will now focus on anti-untouchability

Under directions from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the VHP has announced its new focus — a “society without untouchability” as a new approach to thwart religious conversion, as its earlier “ghar wapsi” campaign ran foul of the Modi government, earning it a bad name.

As outlined by the RSS brass, the new campaign will revolve around bridging the caste divide in India’s villages under the slogan “one well, one temple and one crematorium”.
As part of the campaign, VHP workers will fan out to hundreds of villagers to contact caste and community leaders to end discrimination against dalits, whose alienation often led to other religious groups attempting to convert them.

Denying that this was a new strategy, VHP international working president Pravin Togadia, however, said: “There is no place for untouchability in Bharat. The VHP always believed in this principle. At the Udupi Hindu Conclave 1969, a resolution was passed to this effect — ‘Hindava Sarve Sahodaraaha’ meaning all Hindus are brothers.”But RSS sources said this should come as a relief to the Modi government, which was in the dock over the controversial “ghar wapsi” programme being run by RSS affiliate groups.Sources said the move has come after BJP chief Amit Shah conveyed to RSS Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s concerns over the VHP agitations.

Stating that the Modi government needed to focus on issues of governance, Shah is understood to have requested RSS top leaders to rein in the rightwing groups. The final call was given by RSS general secretary Bhaiyya Joshi after the brainstorming session — the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha concluded in Nagpur, declaring full support to Modi and his government. The VHP will also promote a common water source for all. It may be a water well or a lake or pump water.