Togadia refuses to name person(s) behind alleged plot, claims IB is working against him and there’s a conspiracy to get him tangled in a web of false cases.
New Delhi: First, he went ‘missing’. Then, a day later, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s international working president Pravin Togadia appeared in front of the media to make a startling claim – that a plot was being hatched to kill him in an encounter.
When he disappeared, Togadia was alleged to be dodging arrest in an old case, with a team of the Rajasthan Police reportedly coming to arrest him. However, Togadia alleged that the Rajasthan Police team was actually in Ahmedabad to bump him off.
“While I was offering pooja, one person entered my office and said I would be killed in an encounter,” he said in Ahmedabad Tuesday.
Togadia said he immediately left his office and also turned his mobile off so that he couldn’t be traced, saying he feared that his arrest would lead to chaos. He then claimed to have spent some hours at Thaltej, from where he contacted his lawyers in Rajasthan. He said he was advised to surrender before a court, but could not do so as he fell unconscious due to low blood sugar near Kotarpur, on his way to surrender.
“I have complete faith in the judiciary and will present myself for surrender as soon as my doctors allow me to,” a tearful Togadia said.
Asked who could be behind this alleged plot to get him killed, Togadia refused to name any names. “I will give you the names of all working against us at an appropriate time with relevant evidence,” he said.
The VHP chief did, however, allege that the Intelligence Bureau was working against him, and claimed there was a conspiracy to get him tangled in a web of false cases.
On 29 June 2017, Togadia had written a letter to the director of the Intelligence Bureau, copied to the prime minister and the home minister, about “snooping on, questioning and investigating” volunteers of a VHP helpline in many states.
Known for long for his controversial and inflammatory statements, Togadia has been part of a power struggle in the VHP. His relationship with the RSS is also said to have been strained as the Sangh was believed to be divided on Togadia continuing as the VHP’s international working president.
When elections were held in VHP last month, instead of having a consensus candidate, the RSS for the first time pushed for a contest, with former Himachal Pradesh governor Justice (Retd) Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje and senior VHP functionary Jagannath Sahi vying for top positions.
But the gathering of 250 state and country representatives of the VHP for the election in Bhubaneswar saw support consolidating in favour of Togadia, leaving the Sangh Parivar an even more divided house, according to insiders.
Togadia was also known to be good friends with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 1980s but fell out when the latter was chief minister of Gujarat, apparently because Togadia was said to be interfering in administration.