People did not reject BJP: Advani

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>[bJP News] People did not reject BJP: Advani >Thu, 21 Oct 2004

00:09:02 -0500 > >`People did not reject BJP' >Neena Vyas >The Hindu >October

21, 2004 > >The Bharatiya Janata Party president, L.K. Advani, addressing

newspersons at the >party headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday. -- Photo: V.

Sudershan >NEW DELHI, OCT. 20. The Bharatiya Janata Party is not facing a

crisis, it >continues to enjoy the trust of the people and is confident of

staging a >comeback sooner rather than later as the United Progressive Alliance

Government >does not seem to be keen on seeing it in the Opposition for too

long, the new >party chief, L.K. Advani, said here today. > >He said his first

journey outside Delhi as the new party president would be to >the Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur where he would meet the >leaders and

be present at the annual RSS Dussehra function. He would then meet >all the

leaders of the National Democratic Alliance parties, going first to >Hyderabad

to meet the Telugu Desam Party leader, Chandrababu Naidu. Party >leaders later

said Mr. Advani would meet other NDA leaders also to assure them >of the BJP's

desire to maintain and consolidate the NDA. However, no answers >were available

from party leaders on how the BJP proposed to assuage the >feelings of the RSS

and keep Hindutva at bay as demanded by its allies. > >He said that his "main

concern" as the new president would be to meet the >challenge of the

"ideological assault" mounted on it by the UPA Government. "We >have to meet

this challenge head on ... respond ... and emerge victorious," he >said. His

charge was that under the Government "governance has taken a back >seat" as it

was busy targeting the Opposition's ideology. > >It was Mr. Advani's first

press conference here after taking charge for a fifth >tenure as party

president, a position he has held for over 10 years in the >24-year-old party,

and there was nothing, he said, which suggested that the >party had come to

terms with its electoral defeat and rejection by the people. >In fact, several

times Mr. Advani talked about "people's trust in us" and >maintained that both

in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls "people >did not reject us ...

it was a close contest." > >He stated that the change in the top party job was

neither necessitated by its >recent electoral defeats nor by squabbling among

the next generation leaders. >He insisted that the outgoing president, M.

Venkaiah Naidu, had said not to >relieve him would be "cruel" as there were

pressing personal reasons for his >resignation. As if to reiterate these

points, senior leaders Jaswant Singh and >Pramod Mahajan flanked him, while

M.A. Naqvi also sat on the podium from where >he addressed the press. > >Since

the party's last chintan baithak after the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, >the

BJP has renamed Hindutva as "nationalism" and today Mr. Advani described

>"nationalism" as the "BJP's ideological DNA." He said that although there were

>two main "national parties" in the country — the Congress and the BJP — "the

>BJP is the only party that is both national and nationalist." > >The Congress

was not "nationalist," not only because it was headed by a person >of "videshi

mool" (foreign origin), but because it had "insulted" Savarkar, >allowed the

"demographic invasion" of India by Bangladeshis which could "lead >to the

creation of a third Islamic state in the subcontinent," and it had

>"imprisoned" their leader, Uma Bharti, for trying to raise the national flag.

>Mr. Advani also indulged in the BJP's all-time favourite activity — lashing

out >against the Congress and the Communists for using "pseudo secularism as a

>façade for vote bank politics." > > > >

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