Bhubaneswar: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today (June 19, 2004) said former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, now in the focus over his remarks on Gujarat, should decide whether he was part of the Sangh Parivar or not.

"He should declare whether he belongs to the Sangh Parivar or not, and if he believes so he has to abide by its discipline," VHP international working president Ashok Singhal said at a news conference.

Asked to comment on the Gujarat issue and controversy surrounding Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Singhal said he would not like to say more than what he had already said.

Describing the previous NDA Government as "anti-Hindu", he said it was defeated in the elections because of this.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would lose its identity if it discarded issues relating to the Hindu cause, he said, adding those who fought the elections on the issue of Hindutva in Uttar Pradesh had won by huge margins.

Questioned whether there was any proposal to turn the VHP into a political outfit to take up the Hindu cause, Singhal said, "It will not be required."

Lambasting what he alleged as "illegal conversion" of Hindus into Christianity at the behest of missionaries, Singhal demanded a specific law to stop "this menace".