Modi, VHP set for clash over guru

New Delhi, Jan. 12: Narendra Modi and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are heading for a clash over the alleged harassment of one-time BJP mascot Asaram Bapu and the arrest of the spiritual leader’s disciples in connection with an assault.

Sources said the Gujarat chief minister told off Ashok Singhal when the VHP international president called on Modi last month.

BJP and VHP sources confirmed that Modi took his own time to meet Singhal. When he did, he told Singhal that at his age —the VHP chief is in his eighties — he ought to renounce public life and not take up “dubious” causes. Singhal was left speechless.

On November 27, Gujarat police had raided Asaram Bapu’s ashram and rounded up some of his disciples following a murderous assault on a person, Raju Chandak, who had testified against the guru before a commission.

The commission had been set up by the Gujarat government to probe the unexplained death of two boys in the ashram. Chandak had alleged he was being intimidated by Asaram Bapu along with another evangelist, Murari Bapa.

Both had campaigned for Modi. But once the ashram came under a cloud after the murders, Modi distanced himself from Asaram Bapu.

At a news conference on December 22, Singhal alleged that the “deplorable” acts against the spiritual guru were “instigated” by Christian missionaries who saw him as a “threat” to their conversion activities in tribal areas.

He also demanded that BJP leaders should rein in Shabbir Hussain, the Gujarat police chief, because Modi was “too weighed down by the burden of the false litigation relating to the Godhra riots”.

A top VHP leader said the outfit and its sadhus and sants would meet next month to adopt resolutions against Modi and the appointment of a Muslim as Gujarat DGP.

A senior Gujarat RSS pracharak, however, said Singhal should not have taken up cudgels for a “controversial” person. “There is no popular support for Asaram Bapu and the courts have not backed him though several PILs were filed on his behalf,” he said.

A BJP leader said the central command had endorsed Modi’s response. “After such serious charges and so much evidence, how can a responsible government not act?”