The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday kicked off its three-day long central committee meeting in this volatile coastal city, which had earlier witnessed two deaths during police crackdown on anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protestors.

VHP President V.S. Kokje, Working President Alok Kumar and its General Secretary Milind Parande are attending the meeting at Sangh Niketan Sabhagar.

Apart from them, Vishwaprasannateerth Maharaj and Dharmadhikari Virendra Hegde were also present.

Reiterating the Sangh affiliate's core stand on Hindutva, Maharaj said: "Lord Ram is our idol and Ram Rajya our goal. Like the sun appears whenever the clouds dissipate, similarly the sun of Bharatiya culture is rising again."

At the inaugural session, Hegde said: "We all want a grand temple of Lord Ram be built in Ayodhya. Temples are our source of inspiration and must also become places of service." He claimed that religious conversions will stop once temples focus on "serving".

"There will be cultural awakening and there will no more be conversions in Karnataka because of hunger and poverty," he added.

The VHP President said that there will be a review of the working of the last six months during the course of the 3-days meeting. He too emphasised on attaining the goal of stopping religious conversions, which he claimed is "yet to be achieved".IANS