Instead of fighting terror, our politicians are marketing it and, therefore, they are unable to root it out from the country, said Vishwa Hindu Parishad General Secretary Pravin Togadia at a public meeting on Sunday.

The event was held under the aegis of the Ahmedabad branch of the western region council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Togadia also pointed out that unlike in India, the acts of terror did not repeat in the US and the UK.

He said people will have to reply unitedly to terrorists, as it is a global problem with Israel, the US and the UK being common sufferers with India. He felt there should be a treaty with these countries to deal with “Islamic terror”, which not only has a “will to kill but also the will to die in their acts of killing innocent people”.

“It is ideological terrorism that needs to be dealt with and the security forces should be used,” he said adding, “The leaders in India are not much interested in countering terror but are cowards who are marketing terror instead.” He said the Indian leaders are fighting against terrorists but not the terrorist ideology. He said it is not very different from the effort of an administration that tries to fight malaria by just giving medication to people and not killing the mosquitoes.

Togadia demanded a ban on madrasas, which, according to him, are responsible for promoting terror by indoctrinating young minds and teaching them to hate all those who are not Muslims.

He also suggested that death penalty should be introduced to counter terror indoctrination, which, he said, is possible only if the government has political will.

Togadia also pointed out that terrorists are targeting not only people but are also determined to spread economic terrorism.

Earlier at the meeting, retired Army Major Ramesh Chikhlikar gave tips on safety measures people can take during terror attacks.