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VHP denies raking up asthi kalash issue

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Vishwa Hindu Parishad international general secretary Dr Praveen Togadia on Friday denied that his organisation is planning an asthi kalash yatra around the country.

He expressed surprise at media reports about the outfit's 'proposed' yatra, adding that Thursday's meeting of top VHP leaders 'did not even discuss the issue'.

Speaking to rediff.com, Togadia said, "I am surprised at reports that the VHP is planning to undertake a yatra because the VHP, at any level, did not ever talk about it."

Togadia, however, said, "If just a small news item in a paper can lead some politicians to make so much hue and cry about it, it reflects their pseudo-secular traits."

He said, "Though, we have no such plans of taking out a procession with urns containing the ashes of karsevaks killed in Godhra, may I ask the pseudo secular politicians, whether they would ban Moharram processions on the same plea?"

"After all Moharram is observed as a part of mourning for Imam Hussain, who was killed in a religious battle more than 1400 years ago," he reasoned.

Meanwhile, the two-day VHP meet that concluded in Ayodhya on Friday resolved not to add anything new in its agenda for the 'second round of Ramjanmbhoomi movement'.

"We are only extending our existing programmes," Togadia said.

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

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