Hindu fundamentalist leader targets Hyderabad Police Chief

The Times of India

Togadia plays communal card against city top cop

Mahesh Buddi, TNN, Jun 13, 2010, 04.53am IST

HYDERABAD: Even as the state police seems to be concerned over the frequent visits of Hindu fundamentalist leaders' visit to Hyderabad, Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) international secretary Praveen Togadia has said that jihadi activities in the state capital have increased after IPS officer A K Khan took over as the city police commissioner.

"The state government is following a policy of appeasing the Muslims. An offshoot of this has been that jihadis have become more active in Hyderabad since Khan took over as the commissioner," Togadia told TOI over phone. The VHP leader has been maintaining that the local police has been rounding up only Hindu youths after the recent communal clashes while Muslims were let off despite their involvement in the clashes.

Togadia's last visit to the city was on May 28 to take part in a "Prashikshan Shibir" organised at the Swaminarayan Gurukul in Moinabad. Prior to that, he had come in March to take part in a three-day meeting of the All-India "Dharma Prachara Samiti" of the VHP held at the Gujarati Sewa Samaj Bhavan. The VHP leader had visited the city in February to take part in a VHP meeting for fund raising and membership drive held at Feelkana near Begum Bazar.

In the same month, he had also participated in a nationwide RSS meeting held at NTR stadium.

The cops are a worried lot because every visit of Togadia to the city had sparked some trouble. During the March visit, GHMC mayor B Karthika Reddy drew flak from the MIM for sharing the dais with Togadia and for alleged 'pro-Hindu statements' she made while taking part as the chief guest of the meeting organised by the right-wing group. During his May visit, several locals had staged a protest against his presence and 19 persons including a Congress corporator had been arrested in this connection.

The apprehension of the cops is whether Togadia is planning to fan Hindu fundamentalism in Hyderabad. "The tenor of his speeches, both public and private, during his visits here was that the Muslims were consolidating here and that the Hindus would end up as a minority in the former Nizam state in a few years time. We are worried as this kind of propaganda will fuel fundamental Islamic elements into action," said a senior police official.

Togadia, however, denied that there was a hidden agenda behind his visits to Hyderabad. "We are not trying to fan any communal trouble. Work is going on to mobilise public opinion in a democratic manner against the sufferings of the Hindu population in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh through meetings. Local activists are doing it but no specific mega programme has been planned with regard to Hyderabad in the near future," he said.

But the cops do not want to take any chances. The next time Togadia comes to the city, his activities and utterances are going to be even more closely monitored and checked at the slightest hint of mischief, officials said.