Rourkela: Vowing not to give an 'inch of land belonging to Lord Jagannath of Puri' for the proposed Vedanta University in Orissa, VHP International Secretary General Pravin Togadia on Wednesday said his outfit would fight tooth and nail to protect the "land of Lord."
"We vehemently oppose the move of Naveen Patnaik government to hand over thousands acres of land belonging to Lord Jagannath and VHP and I will lead nation-wide protest if the Orissa government fails to respect the sentiments of crores of Hindus," Togadia told reporters here.
The VHP leader, who arrived in Rourkela on Tuesday on a two-day visit to the steel city, attended the VHP training camp organised by its state unit.
Stating Vedanta has taken up the project to have an university in Orissa which is funded by a foreign agency run by church, the VHP leader charged "the agency wants to set up Vedanta University in our country to fulfill their agenda but Naveen Patnaik should not play into their hands."
Demanding the arrest of "the real culprits" in Laxmananda Saraswati murder case, Togadia alleged the Orissa government lacked interest in nabbing the killers.
"I was not allowed to enter into Kandhamal during my last visit to Orissa. I just wanted to have talks with people there. But the Naveen Patnaik government did not allow me to enter into Kandhamal while foreign nationals of European countries were allowed," he said.
To a question, the VHP leader cautioned the UPA government not to allow religion-based census "which would further disintegrate and create division."
On the issue of terrorism, he said the extremists from across the border should be dealt with firmly. Togadia called for handling the Naxalite problem with a firm hand while expediting development works in backward and most backward areas dominated by tribals. PTI
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