NEW DELHI, 3 September 2003 — A radical Hindu leader accused by police of fanning religious hatred was yesterday kicked out of another Indian town before he could attend a temple-building ceremony, television stations said.
Praveen Togadia, general secretary of the hawkish Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Forum) or VHP was detained in the trading town of Hapur and put back on a New Delhi-bound train, New Delhi Television reported.
Police said the “extreme” step was taken in view of fears that Togadia’s presence could fan sectarian tensions in Hapur, some 60 km (37 miles) east of the Indian capital.
Hapur is situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where less than a week ago the Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walked out of office after a regional ruling coalition collapsed.
The VHP, seen as the ideological mentor of India’s ruling BJP, is accused of lending its support to a drive that led to the demolition of the ancient Babri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh in 1992 by Hindu fanatics.
Yesterday’s deportation marks the second time the hard-line Hindu leader has been kicked out of an Indian town.
On Aug. 16, Togadia was banned from entering the eastern city of Patna as he alighted from an aircraft and was sent back to New Delhi under police escort by the provincial government.
In April, Togadia was arrested after defying a ban on distributing tridents to hundreds of Hindu activists in the western state of Rajasthan. Rights groups and opposition parties have charged the VHP with cranking up its anti-Muslim campaign to woo Hindu votes in elections scheduled to be held in four states later this year.
