VHP founder KK Shastri dies in Ahmedabad

He was admitted to the hospital last week, but was brought home after his health improved. He was 102.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) founder Keshavram Kashiram Shastri, popularly known as Ke Ka, passed away in Ahmedabad on Saturday at the age of 102.

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Shastri, a grammarian and towering figure in the Gujarati literary circle, died of old age complications at his home.

He had been admitted to the hospital last week, but was brought home after an improvement in his health.

Shastri, a staunch saffron man, roused controversy by openly supporting the sectarian violence in Gujarat in 2002. He was quoted as saying, "It had to be done, it had to be done."

When asked how he, as a scholar and a litterateur, could condone innocents being burnt alive, he said: "The youngsters have done even those things that we don't like. We don't support it. But we can't condemn it because they are our boys. If my daughter does something, will I condemn it?"

Chief Minister Narendra Modi's government had organised a felicitation programme when Shastri turned 100.