Hailing from a Bania family in Western Uttar Pradesh, Ashok Singhal founded the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), a right wing Hindu Organisation, and spearheaded the ‘Ram Janmbhomi’ movement – to build a temple dedicated to Lord Ram at, what is supposed to be the location of his birthplace.
This resulted in the destruction of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, and the countless deaths that followed in the numerous riots that broke out across the nation in the early 1990’s
Active till recently, Singhal was admitted to a Gurgaon hospital on Saturday complaining of breathlessness. However, he contracted septicaemia, and succumbed to a heart attack this afternoon.
He was a graduate in metalurgy from BHU, but became a full time participant in the RSS, and remained a bachelor all his life, comitted to his cause.
