The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday charged senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Kishenchand Advani yet again with "ideological deviation" for suggesting a negotiated settlement to the vexed Ayodhya issue and said the saffron party required "radical surgery" to be back on the Hindutva track.
A day after Advani sought Muslim cooperation for the construction of the Ram temple on the first day of his National Integration Yatra at Rajkot, VHP firebrand general secretary Praveen Togadia said his outfit committed a "blunder" by supporting Advani's 'Ram Rath Yatra' in 1990 and blamed the BJP leader for the "Congress-isation" of the party.
Last year too, the Sangh Parivar had charged the former Deputy Prime Minister with "ideological erosion" in the wake of his controversial remarks on Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah at his mausoleum in Karachi.
"The experience of the past 450 years have shown that negotiations have not given positive results and the experiences in last 100 years have shown that judicial verdict is also not conclusive. Legislation in Parliament is the surest way to construct the Ram temple," Togadia told PTI, rejecting Advani's call for a negotiated settlement of the imbroglio.
"By suggesting negotiations with Muslims, Advani has willfully neglected the legislative option. It shows he is not ready to follow the BJP's own 1989 Palampur Resolution and that he has deviated from the ideological stand of the party's national executive," he said.
Togadia said the Congress party also favoured a settlement of the Ayodhya issue either through negotiations or court verdict. The only difference between the two parties was that the BJP maintained that a central legislation was the surest way to build the temple and "now Advani has deviated from that also".
Asked why the VHP cadre were not extending support to Advani's Yatra against the UPA government's "minorityism", he said, "Due to the experience of the last 13 years after the Ayodhya demolition, we have come to the conclusion that the leadership of the Hindu movement should not be given to any political person because they may use the movement to gain power but after coming to power may not be able to fulfill the goal.
"The Hindu movement would be led by a person not active in politics. We did a blunder by supporting Advani's Somnath-Ayodhya Rathyatra. We should not repeat the same mistake again."
Asked about Advani's concern over the "Congress-isation of the BJP" and the factionalism and corruption in it, the VHP leader said, "if a person who has been the party president for over 15 years feels that way, is he not responsible? Who is to be blamed?"