Assault on ‘kathavachak' in Etawah achallenge to Hindutva, says VHP chief

Time of India

14 hours ago

Lucknow: Days after a 'kathavachak' (religious storyteller) and his associate from the Yadav community were allegedly assaulted by a group of men from the upper caste in Etawah, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international president Alok Kumar on Thursday said "the incident was no less than a challenge to the entire Hindutva and Dharma-shashtras".
"We need to be cautious. Such acts by certain individuals are reprehensible," Kumar told TOI, adding that the Etawah incident was nothing short of a "concerted" attempt to incite disharmony between different sections of society.
He asserted that such incidents should not intentionally be portrayed to create disharmony between the Yadavs and Brahmins. "Harmony should be maintained. The law should be maintained.
And this right of all Hindus to worship, to preach, to be a pundit in a temple is inviolable and cannot be compromised," Kumar said, adding that it must be understood that no one can be stopped from preaching and reciting 'katha'.
Experts said that Kumar sought to frame the incident not merely as a caste-related atrocity, but as a violation of Hinduism itself, potentially seeking to reframe the narrative from a caste conflict to one of unity under the larger Hindu fold.
His emphasis on harmony and law, analysts said, reflected VHP's pointed attempt to prevent the local incident from becoming a symbol of systemic caste oppression — a narrative that could damage the image of Hindu unity, especially in the politically-sensitive Uttar Pradesh.
Kumar said that the Etawah incident was highly painful. "Bhagwan to sabke hain… sab Bhagwan ke hain aur Bhagwan ne sabko saman adhikar diya hai," he said, stressing that the VHP strongly condemned the incident and demanded strict punishment for the accused as early as possible.
The VHP chief said that the Yogi Adityanath govt was taking appropriate action against the accused. At the same time, he said, one needs to exercise restraint from taking political mileage from the incident. He said that 'dharma' was primarily meant to unite people and not to create divisions. "Therefore, the divide which has been created because of such incidents should be bridged."
Kumar said that the VHP was already imparting six months of training to Scheduled Tribes vis-à-vis religious storytelling. "Bhagwan par unka adhik adhikar hai kyunki Bhagwan bhi apne kartavya ke liye 14 saal jungle mein rahe they…," he said, referring to Ram who spent 14 years in the forest during his exile. He further said that the VHP was also running a 'Ved Vidyalaya' in Odisha. The institution, he said, was primarily attended by women of the ST community.