Wednesday, June 15 2005 17:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hardwar: Returning to its pet agenda after the attack on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today (Jun 15, 2005) expressed serious concern over the "unbridled" growth in Muslim population and exhorted Hindus to increase their numbers to "counter" it.

Making a new addition to its long list of Hindu-centric demands, the VHP Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal (Central Advisory Board) meeting, which concluded in Hardwar today, also demanded that the Bhagwad Gita be declared as the national book of the country.

"Any society with a bigger population commands greater influence in the world. It is a myth that increased population increases unemployment. To counter the dangerous crisis posed by the Muslim population, we urge the Hindu society to make constructive contribution towards increasing the population of the community," Swami Avdeshanand Giri, chief of the influential Juna Akhara, told reporters in Hardwar, reading out from a resolution on 'population imbalance' adopted on the second day of the Board Meeting in Hardwar today.

The second day show was a damp squib with all the top leaders, including Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, leaving the town earlier than scheduled. Togadia, who was slated to do the press briefing, did not show up.

The resolution pointed out that the 2001 census showed that the Hindu population had increased by 20 per cent as against the Muslim growth rate of 36 per cent.

It expressed apprehension that dozens of districts bordering Bangladesh in Assam, Tripura and West Bengal were on the verge of becoming Muslim majority.

Alleging a deep-rooted conspiracy to change the country's demographic pattern, the resolution asked political parties to shed their appeasement policies and bring about a Uniform Civil Code, throw out illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators and take legal steps "to prevent Muslim couples from producing more than two children."

In another resolution, the Board demanded that the Hindu holy scripture of the Gita be declared as a national book on the lines of the national song, national flag and national bird.

Giri announced that VHP would organise a convention at Kurukshetra in Haryana shortly in support of its demand.

The meeting also passed another resolution expressing concern over the increasing tendency to control Hindu temples by different State Governments, including the BJP-ruled Rajasthan.

It demanded the creation of an authority to look into all aspects of temple administration and utilisation of donations received by the temples for social service.

The resolution sought the liberation of all temples from Government control and constitution of an autonomous religious federation to oversee their management.

Recalling the partition of Bengal in 1905, the VHP-backed Board asked the countrymen to observe Akhand Bharat Day on August 14.

It also demanded an immediate ban on export of cattle to Pakistan and Bangladesh, alleging that it would deprive Indians of milk and milk products.

VHP Senior vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore announced that six 'Dharam Sansads' (religious parliament) would be organised across the country to strengthen the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.