NEW DELHI: Aggressively defending the demolition of a church in Haryana's Hisar, VHP on Monday asked whether Christians would allow construction of a Hanuman temple in the Vatican City.

VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain called the 1857 war of independence a communal war fought for religion and said similar wars would be waged if Christians did not stop conversions.

He also claimed that the allegations of communal overtones in the gang rape of a nun in Nadia in West Bengal were a conspiracy of the church and that sexual exploitation of nuns was a Christian culture, and not of Hindus. He said the Pope is so worried about rape of nuns that he is promoting gay sex to stop it.

READ ALSO: Hisar priest was luring youths with bride promise, Khattar says

In both Hisar and Nadia incidents, allegations of involvement of fringe Hindu groups have been made. But VHP on Monday categorically denied its involvement.

'Can one build a Hanuman mandir in Vatican?'

Reacting to the Hisar case, Jain said, “This is a spontaneous reaction of the local people. There are no Christians living in the village or around it where the church has been attacked. So why was a church being built there? Will the Christians allow us to make a Hanuman temple in the Vatican? Let them allow that, and we will ask them to choose any place in India for a church. We will fund it.”

READ ALSO: Was threatened to leave village earlier, Hisar priest says

He added, “The church was for the purpose of conversion. Local people had warned against it. But when it went unheeded, they took whatever action they deemed fit.”

Indicating that such attacks would keep on happening, Jain said, “This is a country where the 1857 war was fought for the cause of religion. People will react to aggressive conversion, just as they reacted to the killing of Swami Laxmananda in Odisha in 2008.”

On the gang-rape of a nun in West Bengal, Jain said it should be viewed as a crime and not through the prism of religion. “It is a Christian culture to exploit nuns. We don’t do such things. The Vatican received 5,000 complaints of sexual exploitation in five years prompting the pope to appeal for legalization of gay sex,” Jain said.

READ ALSO: V illagers in Hisar allege conversions, miscreants raze church

The VHP member also supported the statement of Subramanian Swamy that “God does not live in mosques but in temples”. “This is a truth that even Muslims agree to. Ask any Muslim if Allah lives in mosque and he will reply in the negative. Saudi Arabia has demolished so many mosques for developmental work, no body has objected,” he said.