VHP's Togadia decries Mangalore pub assault

Decrying the Mangalore pub assault, firebrand Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Praveen Togadia today said the attack on women in the bar was not in conformity with the country's social and cultural values.

Women should be treated with respect and dignity, the VHP general secretary said and condemned the Sri Rama Sene's attack on women.

While maintaining that the VHP is against the pub culture, he said the Sene's activists went too far in donning the role of moral police.

"The method adopted by them is inconsistent with our social and cultural values," Togadia said.

He, nevertheless, called for a mass awareness campaign against the growing pub culture in the country.

On the BJP reviving the Ayodhya chant ahead of the Lok Sabha election at its Nagpur conclave, Togadia said he was not aware about this.

Instead of raking up the issue, the BJP should promise to take legislative measures to enable construction of the Ram temple if voted to power at the Centre, he said.

Referring to the global economic meltdown, he said it was a conspiracy of the oil-producing Muslim countries against India. "They raised prices and then slashed them," he said. "These nations even financed terror against India through the money earned
from petrol."