Giriraj Kishore: Indian VHP leader dies aged 94

Giriraj Kishore, a senior leader of the hardline Hindu organisation VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council), has died after a long illness. Kishore 94, died in Delhi on Sunday evening at the VHP headquarters, the organisation said in a statement. Born on 4 February 1920 in Etah district in Uttar Pradesh state, he served as the vice-president of VHP. Kishore played a major role in the campaign for a temple to Hindu god Ram in the northern town of Ayodhya. He was among a group of politicians accused of inciting a Hindu mob to destroy the 16th Century Babri mosque in Ayodhya in December 1992. Kishore joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - the ideological fountainhead of hardline Hindu organisations - at an early age and was one of its most senior campaigners. The RSS founded VHP in 1964 to give Hindus what they believed would be a clearly defined sense of religious identity and political purpose and sent Kishore to work with the VHP in 1983, according to BBC.