Reinventing the principle of 'Unity in Diversity', the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has announced that it would put the words into practice to achieve its larger goal of curtailing religious conversion.

VHP international joint general secretary Y. Raghavulu, who is here to conduct a six-day training camp for women and girls drawn from the six southern districts of Andhra Pradesh, spoke to the media on Monday about the Parishad's strategies. He said 50,000 camps were being held across the country to sensitise people, especially the dwellers of hilly terrains, fishermen living in coastal areas and the tribal communities in forest areas, who are vulnerable to conversion, terrorist or anti-social activities.

“The Hindutva practitioners should understand that they are the sons of the same mother, Bharat Mata, and hence should desist from dividing themselves in the name of caste, language or State such as Bihari, Punjabi, Assamese and Telugus.”

On Tirupati

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader appealed to the State and Central governments to keep at bay the 'evil practices' like religious conversion and cow slaughter in places of religious significance such as Tirupati. “We are not demanding a ban on cow slaughter in Mecca, but only in Tirupati, which holds a lot of sentiment to the Hindus and hence a sensitive place. The civic administration should take pre-emptive steps before the issue blows up into a full-fledged law and order problem in future,” he cautioned. The girls are trained in yoga and martial arts and other forms of self-defence.