Praveen Togadia
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Praveen Togadia is an oncologist from Gujarat, India, and the International General Secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a major Hindutva organization advocating for a Hindu Rashtra in India. A Saurashtrian Patel-a caste identity he shares with Keshubhai Patel, former Gujrat chief minister-and son of a marginal farmer,Togadia came to Ahmedabad to study. He lived in a chawl but excelled in the classroom. This Caught the attention of his school principal who, being an RSS worker, began the youth's association with Sangh.
Togadia shone in medical college as well as in the Sangh sanctum. He was 22 in 1979, when he was appointed chief instructor of an RSS officers training camp. Among his students was a certain Shankersinh Vaghela,then 39,and now president of the Gujrat's Congress unit. Togadia already had an appreciable practice when he was seconded to the VHP by the Sangh. He trimmed his medical career he now sees patients for a week each month-for Parisad commoitments. Even its opponents acknowledge the VHP is today a mass movement in Gujrat. It has units in 10,000 of the state's 18,000 villages, run schools, has experimented with tele-medicine clinics that allow hamlets access to city doctors.
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[edit] Views on Hindutva
According to Togadia, his vision of India is that of an officially Hindu, militarily strong state that gives equal rights to every religion, just like the United Kingdom is officially a Christian country but with strong secular values and equal rights to minorities.
[edit] Media Portrayal and Response
Muslim newspapers accuse him of being a "Kaffir" and a "Hindu Taliban".[1]
He has been banned from attending processions[2] and numerous other sanctions have been made against him.
Togadia has asserted in online interviews that he does not mandate violence in the Hindutva Movement, and stressed that he was not against minorities. he also says that the majority of the work concerning the emancipation of the lower castes is not done by Christian Missionaries but by Hindu organizations:[3]
| “ | "More than 25,000 social service projects are going on among the downtrodden people. It is wrong to say that the church is serving the downtrodden. It is an end to the means of conversion. On the contrary, from 1871, the first census of India, to rule for prolonged time, the British tried to divide Indian society by a census. By converting, the church has given the scheduled tribe people a different identity and tried to destroy indigenous culture, ethos, behaviour rather than serving them"[3] | ” |
| “ | The concept of minorities is alien to India because we don't believe in discriminating on the basis of caste, creed or religion. As such, after Jews, Hindus have suffered a lot in the world to save their culture and motherland[3] | ” |
| “ | A Hindu cannot hate any religion. He believes that to pray to God is the same, so we can't hate Christianity. But we are against the conversion activity of the Church. We love Christianity but we oppose Churchanity as it was opposed by Europe.[3] | ” |
[edit] References
- ^ milligazette interview
- ^ Tribune India
- ^ a b c d 'Nobody has the right to convert anybody in India', Praveenbhai Togadia Chat
[edit] External links
- The Praveenbhai Togadia Chat - Rediff
