Pravin Togadia
Indian oncologist, activist
Pravin Togadia (Gujarati pronunciation: [Praviṇa tōgaḍiyā]; born 12 December 1956) is an Indian doctor, cancer surgeon and an advocate for Hindu nationalism, coming from the state of Gujarat. He was the former International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and a cancer surgeon by qualification. He is Current President of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad. He had a falling out with the Sangh Parivar and is a vocal critic of Narendra Modi.
Quotes
edit- The chapter is poisoning the minds of little children. They will not respect their own religion in future. They will not turn out to be good Hindus and it will cause harm to the nation.
- On an NCERT school textbook which said that ancient Indians consumed beef, as quoted in "References to ancient Hindus' beef-eating past deleted from school textbooks", Asia News (16 June 2006)
- Neither our houses and businesses nor our daughters and sisters are safe in places such as Hyderabad, Bhopal and Meerut. Development is important, but what will be its use when Hindus won’t be there at homes, and like Hindus in Kashmir, they are thrown out of their motherland.
- Arguing the need for a Hindu nation, as quoted in "Development without Hindu Rashtra is of no use: Togadia", The Hindu (27 January 2015)
Interview, Milli Gazette
edit- There are secular forces that want to convert India into a graveyard like Kashmir. I am proud of VHP.
- A Hindu cannot be a Talib, jehadi or kafir because a Hindu is one who is a hundred times more refined, cultured, more honest, more religious and more balanced in his outlook. Hinduism is the culmination of the cultural evolution of mankind. As a Hindu, I see God in every individual.
- A Talib is one who cannot tolerate the Bamiyan Buddha; a jehadi is one who kills and displaces the innocent Kashmiri Pandits; a kafir is one who is intolerant like Osama and his followers. Osama's religion misguided him to be a terrorist. Had Osama been a Hindu, as per this religion, he would have been running a Rama- Krishna matha somewhere in the Hindukush Mountains for the welfare of the needy rather than plotting the massacre of thousands of innocents in the 9/11 tragedy.
- VHP is “running more than 8,000 social service projects through out the length and breadth of India. Those who are trying to defame an organisation like this are only paving way for ruining India”.
- What is wrong if some organisations like the VHP, RSS and Shiv Sena believe that the Vedic culture of a society that believes in plurality and unity in diversity, has to be retained? If we are saving a civilisation that preserves 1100 religions and 1600 dialects, defending it against the totalitarian and violent religious belief system within democratic set- up, is it wrong?
- We are fighting against such people who are trying to destroy the Hindu society with their totalitarian attitude that only promotes the Church paradigm of the 17th and 18th century Europe. We are exposing the grand design of Pakistan and the ISI to destabilise India. If we are being critic ised for that, it means that the secularists are supporting the plans of Musharraf and Macaulay both against the unity of India.
- Violence of any type by anyone and anywhere should be vehemently condemned. I feel that Muslims haven't condemned the violence in Godhra and Kashmir the way they did in Gujarat-an undemocratic act. When the secularists selectively condemn the Gujarat violence, it seems that without Sita haran (Sita's abduction) the Lanka dahan (Lanka's burning) is imagined. So if you have to criticise the Gujarat carnage, you must also condemn the Kashmir killings as well as the Godhra massacre. If you are only condemning Gujarat, you are inviting the jehadi terrorists and Musharraf to attack Akshardham538 with a red carpet welcome.
- Muslims have also contributed to the youth who are willing to be cannon fodder in the name of jehad. I believe that most of the Muslims want to live peacefully and have nothing to do with vandalism. It's very unfortunate that not even 10 Muslim leaders have marched to resettle the displaced Kashmiri Pandits while on the other hand Hindu leaders marched for rehabilitating Muslims who have suffered in Gujarat. After the Gujarat violence, there was an outcry by the Hindu leaders but not a fatwa has been issued till date by the Muslim ulama against the 70,000 people killed in Kashmir.
- First, all Hindus and Muslims should accept one reality - that we are ethnically and culturally the same. No one from the Hindu-Muslim society must suffer German-Jew paradigm. Each and every Muslim of India emanates ancestorily from the gene, RBC, bone, blood and flesh of a Hindu. If there is something in Hindu dharma that hurts Muslims, I, as a Hindu leader, am ready to reform that.
- In the same manner Muslims must think about the closed concepts of Darul Islam, kufr, jehad etc that have resulted in Pakistan, the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits and other global acts of terrorism . Muslims should also come forward and accept plurality rather than totality for peaceful co-existence. Each Indian Muslim should project a Mohammed (PBUH), a Ram, a Christ and a Guru Nanak in him.
