The Hindu : Ayodhya will be taken by force if need be: Togadia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 28, 2003

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Ayodhya will be taken by force if need be: Togadia

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI SEPT. 27. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Pravin Togadia, spoke here today on Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura, but the difference was, as he himself said, that for the very first time he was addressing a Muslim-dominated audience. He said that Muslims must give up all claims to the disputed site in Ayodhya, and if they did not do this, Ayodhya would be "taken by force" closing forever the possibility of Hindu-Muslim amity.

He said that if the Sunni Wakf Board did not withdraw all claims to the disputed site in Ayodhya, Muslims could forget about Hindu-Muslim bhaichara (brotherhood) and be "prepared for the creation of a Hindu Rashtra, for that was the direction towards which we are headed."

He warned that, if need be, Hindus would take Ayodhya by force, for "Hindus were willing to become suicide bombers" to meet their goals.

The meeting was organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party Minority Morcha and, among others, Jagatguru Shankaracharya Madhavanand Saraswati, Maulana Mufti Naeem Ahmed and the BJP general secretary, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, participated. The idea was to start a dialogue on the issue of Ayodhya.

Mr. Togadia said at the very outset that he would not "speak sweet words" but the "bitter truth" and they (Muslims) must know how Hindus felt.

For centuries Hindus believed that Ayodhya was Lord Ram's birthplace and for hundreds of years they had fought and died for it. Also, Muslims must recognise that they shared a common ancestry with Hindus, not with the Mughal emperors Babar or Aurangzeb. Babar was "our enemy" and Indian Muslims must decide who their ancestors were and what was their heritage.

"We no longer have confidence in Muslim leadership, not even in Atalji (Prime Minister) or Sonia (Congress president)" and he warned that "neither the BJP nor the Congress can protect Muslims, as they could not in Gujarat." Only the "love of Hindus" could offer them any protection, he said.

As Mr. Togadia continued, Maulana Ahmed, who had spoken earlier, intervened but Mr. Togadia continued with his speech. The Maulana intervened once again and said that "Hindus and Muslims cannot go anywhere, they have to live together. Is it proper to make such remarks?"

Earlier, the Maulana had spoken about Islam as a religion that preached universal brotherhood, not terrorism.

He lamented that recently all Muslims had become objects of distrust and suspicion. If there were a few who had done wrong and taken to terrorism, all those expressing that faith must not be condemned, for such elements were there among people of all faiths.

Sri Madhavanand Saraswati felt that the Ayodhya issue must be sorted out through discussions. He said that Muslims must give up their claim to the disputed site, especially in the wake of the Archaeological Survey of India report on the recent excavations in Ayodhya.

He praised the BJP and said that Mr. Vajpayee was the "best" Prime Minister the country had seen.

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