The hardcore Hindutva exponent and chief of the Antarashtriya (International) Hindu Parishad (AHP), Pravin Togadia, has called for replacing mosques with temples in Mathura, Varanasi and Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh state in India.
The Hindutva leader, notorious for his communally charged anti-Muslim speeches, addressing a public meeting at Mangal Bazaar in Usmanpur in Badaun, pointing at the almost-constructed Ram temple built on the ruins of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, asserted that “now was the time for taking Mathura and Kashi (Varanasi).”
The Hindutva AHP leader said that the Ram temple was not being built to take electoral advantage. “The Ayodhya temple is an honour for all the Hindus and the fruit of their sacrifices and devotion,” media reports quoted him as saying.
Babri Masjid was built in 1528 during the Mughal period by Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.
The Hindutva BJP, RSS, VHP, Banjrang Dal, Shiv Sena mob destroyed the Historical Mulsim mosque in 1992, and killed about 2,000 Muslims across India.—INP
