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Keep out of religious matters: VHP to Vajpayee

The Sangh Parivar outfit also said that the continuing violence in Gujarat was a "popular upsurge and people's answer to jihadi terrorism."

"It is better if he [Vajpayee] confines himself to politics and leaves matters of faith to religious leaders," VHP senior vice-president Giriraj Kishore said when asked about the prime minister's statement seeking to distance himself from the proponents of Hindutva.

When asked if the VHP considered Vajpayee as a member of the Sangh Parivar, Kishore said: "He is a member of the NDA [National Democratic Alliance]. His emphasis has been on NDA."

Meanwhile, VHP international general secretary Pravin Togadia, who was also present, said: "The Indian state and [pseudo] secularism has failed to protect Hindus and control jihadi terrorism and hence people are fast making up their mind to defend themselves.

"What is happening in Gujarat is not communal riots but people's answer to Islamic jihad," he said.

He alleged that the Indian polity, "including NDA", has been practising "one-way secularism" and "acting as a defendant of jihadi terrorism".

While asserting that VHP was not justifying the violence in the state, he said, "But what is happening in Gujarat is an upsurge, a rebellion."

PTI

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