Top Stories,

Controversial Indian VHP Ashok Singhal passes away

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal passed away on Tuesday afternoon at 2.24 PM at Medanta Medicity hospital, Gurgaon .He was 89.

He was having multi-organ dysfunction, ARDS (respiratory distress) and sepsis (infection) heart and kidney problems since some times back and he was admitted at Medanta Medicity hospital, Gurgaon

A team of specialists headed by Sanjay Mittal, director of Clinical Cardiology and Research at Medanta monitored his health.

He was kept on life-support systems in the Intensive Care Unit but the patient  did not show any sign of improvement, doctors added.

His funeral will be held at Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi tomorrow.

He went on a month-long tour of various countries to oversee the VHP’s activities, weeks before his death.


It is to be mentioned here that  BJP  national president Amit Shah, union  ministers J.P. Nadda, and Harsh Vardhan , BJP general secretary (organisation) Ramlal,  Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev,  VHP leader Praveen Togadia, Maninderjeet Singh Bitta, chairman, All-India Anti-Terrorist Front, and a few state leaders visited the hospital earlier to enquire about Singhal's health.

Togadia had also visited the hospital  along with Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and union ministers Rajnath Singh and Uma Bharti on Sunday to enquire about his health.

The Agra-born Singhal, son of a government official, he  was a trained metallurgical engineer who had links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), .He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1942. For more than 20 years, he was the international president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

It is to be mentioned here that he was a strong votary of Hindutva. He  was a leading figure in the forefront of the BJP and Sangh Parivar’s Ram temple movement in Ayodhya.He  was known for his anti-Muslim remarks.

The VHP is a close ally of  PM Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

PM Modi paid tributes to the leader and said that he  was the force behind several noble deeds & social work, which benefitted the poor.

 Modi's tweet reads thus -'  My condolences to his family and countless supporters,”

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy  has also tweeted, which reads thus -:'Deeply sorry to hear of Ashokji demise. He was a Hindutva Titan and the founder of our Hindu Renaissance movement. His last wish-Ram Temple'.