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VHP vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore is busy these days planning the next Dharma Sansad, scheduled for February 2003, which is bound to revive the Ayodhya Mandir issue just before the assembly elections in nine states.With a triple masters degree, including one in political science, the 82-year-old Kishore is an expert at combining politics with religion. He has been in and out of almost all main organisations of the Sangh Parivar. He joined the RSS in 1940, the Jan Sangh by 1970 and the VHP in 1982. In an interview with Ajit Kumar Jha of The Sunday Express, Kishore defends the VHP:
Q.: In the past the VHP played a
cultural role, leaving the political part to the BJP. Has the VHP now developed
political ambitions?
A.: The VHP never played a cultural
role, we are a religious institution and we continue to remain one. Politics
has a very narrow horizon. It is like a toilet, it only plays a cleansing
role. The VHP never wanted to become a political group and will never want
to be in the future. Our goal is much wider...We fight for social upliftment
of the poor, education of the masses, and their spiritual attainment.
Q.: How come Ashok Singhal is telling
the PM to get rid of his principal secretary, Brajesh Mishra? Isn’t that
a policy decision?
A.: First of all, we are not dictating
to anyone or attacking anyone, we are merely expressing our feelings. Ashokji
felt hurt so he expressed those feelings. Second, on January 27, when thousands
of Dharamacharyas assembled in Delhi, the PM kept them waiting. Earlier
in Lucknow as well as in Parliament he had promised that he would resolve
the Ayodhya mandir issue through dialogue. But later he began saying that
he had not promised anything to anyone.
Q.: But if you are angry with the
PM, why attack Mishra?
A.: If you had gone to Ayodhya
during the curfew period early this year, you would realise why. Bridegrooms
were arrested and their marriages prevented, people hounded on the streets,
none of the 10,000 temples of Ayodhya could perform any pujas during the
period —this had never happened in Ayodhya’s history — even the free movement
of cattle was restricted... And we found out later from Union Minister
of State for Home I.D. Swami that the severe curfew was not on the directives
of the Home Ministry but that of the PMO...We learnt after months that
it was Mishra who was responsible for it.
Q.: So can you say once and for
all that the VHP is only a religious outfit with a spiritual goal?
A.: Well, we have a nationalist
goal, if you like to call it politics, go ahead. We want a strong nation,
a developed country, not a developing one. We will not tolerate any economic
domination from outside powers or from organisations like World Bank. We
do not want to continue the colonial education policy which has today become
a Communist poison. We do not want wrong notions such as ‘Aryans came from
outside Hindustan’ to be taught in schools.
Q.: While people may agree with
your call for a strong nation, there can be differences, for example on
your approach to history. Shouldn’t you leave it to professional historians?
A.: Who are professional historians?
In this country it is the monopoly of Marxists. What kind of history do
you want, one that denies one’s heritage?
Q.: You deny the Sangh is playing
politics but look what happened in Jammu, where it propped up the Jammu
State Morcha and the BJP ended up with one seat.
A.: The BJP is directly responsible
for the disastrous election result...The people rejected them because they
formed an alliance with the corrupt National Conference, and sat in the
lap of Farooq Abdullah.
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