Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)

What it is: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, often spelt Vishva) is a Hindu nationalist religious organisation in the Sangh Parivar, the family of bodies around the RSS. Wikipedia records that it was founded on 29 August 1964, the day of Janmashtami, at a conference at Sandipani Sadhanalaya in Powai, Bombay, hosted by RSS chief M. S. Golwalkar. Its founders were Golwalkar and S. S. Apte with Swami Chinmayananda, who became its first president, with Apte as first general secretary. Its own website describes its work under four heads: seva, suraksha, sanskar and sanghathan.

Master Tara Singh at the founding: Scroll names Master Tara Singh among those who attended the 1964 conference as members or invitees, and says the presence of religious minorities meant the VHP did not at first adopt the RSS's uniform view of Hindu identity. Wikipedia also lists Tara Singh, a Sikh leader, among the delegates.

Sikhs in its view: Wikipedia says the VHP regards Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains as part of the wider Hindu fraternity, and that in Punjab it has worked against conversions of Sikhs to Christianity.

Its leaders: Chinmayananda (president) and Apte (general secretary) at the start. The VHP's own site now lists Alok Kumar as International President, Milind Parande as Organising General Secretary and Bajrang Lal Bagra as Secretary General; Wikipedia names Rabindra Narain Singh as president and Alok Kumar as working president, so the two sources differ on the title.

Key moments

• 29 August 1964: founded at Bombay.
• November 1983: the first Ekatmata Yatra, three processions (Kathmandu to Rameshwaram, Gangasagar to Somnath, Haridwar to Kanyakumari) that met at Nagpur. Scroll says the VHP stayed relatively obscure until the mid-1980s.
• 1984: the Bajrang Dal formed as its youth wing, and VHP activity on Ayodhya began from March.
• 1989 to 1992: the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, including the shilanyas of 1989 and the rath yatra of 1990; the Babri mosque was demolished on 6 December 1992 after a BJP-VHP rally.

Its part in this history: The VHP appears in this record chiefly because of its stated view of Sikhs as part of the wider Hindu fraternity, and because Master Tara Singh was at its founding. On the Sikh side, the Akal Takht's 2004 hukamnama against the RSS affiliate Rashtriya Sikh Sangat told Sikhs to avoid Sangh activities (see the RSS page of this record).

Where it stands: It remains part of the Sangh Parivar, with the RSS, the BJP and the student wing ABVP.