Chandigarh, Aug 24: VHP today said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was not acceptable as the Prime Minister as it would be a "grave threat" to the country. "We can accept her (Sonia Gandhi) as mother, daughter or sister, but not as prime minister," VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia told reporters here.

"Suppose a war breaks out between India and Italy. Then how can we trust her?"

Denying that he had ever used derogatory language against Gandhi, Togadia said, "It was the Congress leaders who raked up the controversy for vested interests."
Earlier addressing a gathering, Togadia charged the National Human Rights Commission with adopting "double standards" on issues concerning the majority community.

Taking exception to the suggestion of NHRC chairman Justice (Retd) A S Anand that the retrial in the Best Bakery case be held outside Gujarat, he said "why the NHRC did not demand retrials in the cases of killing of more than 12,000 security personnel while fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir outside that state?"
He said that the VHP wants to defeat "hate-Hindu politics". "Politics of Sonia, Laloo is not acceptable to us. They must respect our sentiments."

He said "Ram Mandir is not in the agenda of NDA and we have nothing do with them." However, VHP was not opposed to the BJP. "We neither love (Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee nor hate him. We are with those who are custodians of Hindu rights," Togadia said.
Bureau Report