Patna, August 7: Former Vishav Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Praveen Togadia on Monday demanded scrapping of minority status to Muslims in the country besides making two-child norm mandatory. During the two-day programme of his newly floated organisation "Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP)", Togadia said, “The government should make two-child norm a mandatory provision by bringing legislation in this regard.”

The firebrand Hindutva leader also asserted that minority status tag to Muslims should be scrapped as the minority status should be given to the community whose population is around 2-4 percent, but Muslims constitute 14-15 percent of the country's total population. Togadia also demanded that the government should bring the law on Kashi, Mathura, Ayodhya, civil code and cow protection.

The former VHP leader raised the Ram Temple issue and slammed the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not constructing the temple at Ayodhya. He said that the party had betrayed the people with whom they had promised to construct the temple. The former VHP leader added that his outfit would take out yatra from Lucknow to Ayodhya on Vijayadashmi in October to press for his demand for construction of Ram temple.

Togadia announced that his outfit would open a "Hindu Kendra" for strengthening the Hindu community in one lakh villages within six months, while 2000 such kendras have already been opened across the country. He also stated that threat to journalists would hamper democracy. Togadia even said, there is an "undeclared emergency" in the country.

Earlier in July, during his visit to Guwahati, Togadia said that the Indian Army should occupy a portion of Bangladesh and settle the illegal immigrants there. Assam police banned the former VHP leader from addressing the media at the Guwahati Press Club. However, he chose another locality for the press conference.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 07, 2018 11:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).