Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday demanded that Muslims who had come from Bangladesh should be treated as infiltrators and pushed back. He, however, demanded refugee status and Indian citizenship for Hindus coming over from the neighbouring country.
“Any Muslim from Bangladesh is an infiltrator, and should be pushed back into that country. Infiltration should be finished in India,” VHP international working president Praveen Togadia said.
He said infiltration was a national issue and not isolated to West Bengal alone. “There is a security threat to several states due to infiltration. There are about 3 crore infiltrators living in West Bengal, Assam, Delhi and Mumbai. They are using India’s resources,” he said at a press conference here.
“Centre and the state governments concerned should work together to fight against cross-border terrorist elements,” he said referring to the October 2 blast in Burdwan which claimed the lives of two suspected JMB terrorists.
On Hindus coming from Bangladesh, Togadia said they were doing so as they were persecuted in that country. “Any Hindu (coming) from Bangladesh (is doing so as he) has been persecuted. They should be accorded refugee status and given Indian citizenship,” he said, adding nearly 50,000 Hindus have come from Bangladesh who should be granted permanent citizenship here.
The VHP leader also demanded that all the madrasas be shut. “It has been proved beyond doubt that madrasas are breeding grounds of terror. They should be shut and people running them should be tried in the court of law,” he said in an apparent reference to the National Investigating Agency’s probe into the functioning of two madrasas in Burdwan district where suspected JMB functionaries imparted terror training.
Togadia said the Hindus studying in the madrasas “could go to other schools”. He said VHP has already provided free education to about 50 lakh Hindus in one lakh villages and in the next two years, it intends to provide free medical aid in all districts in India.
He said more than 1000 delegates will participate in the World Hindu Congress, to be organised in Delhi from November 21-23, and evolve strategies regarding health, education, security and empowerment of Hindus in India and abroad.
“We Hindus are majority in India. We will have a greater say and everyone should respect Hindu views,” he said.
He was also vocal against China’s dumping of goods in the country and urged the Centre to take steps to check it or else lakhs of Indians would lose their jobs.