Guest guest Posted November 19, 2004 Report Share Posted November 19, 2004 >[bJP News] Now, onwards with NDA >Wed, 17 Nov 2004 10:57:38 -0600 > >Now, onwards with NDA >Author: Editorial >Publication: Free Press Journal >November 17, 2004 > > Though the glue of power was removed with the most surprising defeat of >the NDA in last May's parliamentary election, the hope of a better future >remained alive to keep it intact despite attempts by vested interests in the >media and the rival alliance to torpedo its unity. The NDA survives due to the >shared perception of its constituents that together they can hope to achieve >what they cannot ever dream of achieving separately. > > The sheer logic of numbers coupled with the necessity to oppose the >Congress Party in their respective regions of influence has attracted a clutch >of small and notso- small regional parties around the central magnet, that is >the BJP. After their surprise loss of power in the States and at the Centre, >the need for them to stay together rather than apart has got stronger. > > India had entered the coalition era in the mid-90s. It was the Congress >Party's refusal to see the writing on the wall which kept it out of contention >for sharing power with like-minded parties for almost a decade. The once mighty >Congress Party was obliged to eat the proverbial humble pie and give up its >opposition to join a coalition last May when the results of the parliamentary >election unexpectedly denied the NDA an encore in power. > > The Congress Party still desperately longs for the return of its hegemony >at the federal and State levels, but it is well nigh impossible for any one >party to catch the imagination of the people in the foreseeable future. We are >well and truly in the coalition age and are set to be there for quite some >time. > > In view of the above, we are not surprised that the meeting of the NDA top >brass on Monday passed off smoothly. Before Messrs George Fernandes, Sharad >Yadav, Nitish Kumar, P. C. Thomas, Anand Geete S. S. Dhindsa, L. K. Advani, >Venkaiah Naidu, etc met under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister >Vajpayee, dire predictions of a breakup over the BJP's return to the Hindutva >were made by pseudosecularists and others. > > Those who had expected to see cracks in the NDA must have been >disappointed at the outcome of the meeting. Even the ticklish and highly >emotive issue of the Ram temple at Ayodhya failed to cause trouble. The NDA >stuck to its old and most reasonable stand. Which was that a negotiated >settlement was better than a judicial pronouncement given the delays inherent >in our judicial system. > > None can, or should, cavil at that formulation. For, the Ayodhya imbroglio >does not lend itself to a solution by any kind of force. Neither now, nor in >the future. The BJP-led NDA was in power for six years but it could not think >of using any kind of pressure to impose a solution on the minority community. > > The Congress Party had been in power much longer but it had only allowed >the dispute to linger for decades, hoping that it would go away if it closed >its eyes to it. Eventually, it burst open into its face and led to its >marginalisation in UP and Bihar and elsewhere in the North. > > The resolution adopted at the meeting should allay fears that the NDA was >about to collapse due to the alleged return of the BJP to its old Hindutva >roots. The fact is that the campaign in a section of the media was motivated by >its jaundiced world view and its links with the vested interests in the UPA. > > The BJP has never shunned secularism, only its skewered interpretation by >the Congress Party and other pseudo-secularists for whom it is but a convenient >tool for netting the votes of the Muslims by creating the fear of the so-called >communalists. As the NDA resolution noted, " Our secularism is based on the >idea of equal respect for all faiths, a non-theocratic State that does not >discriminate on the grounds of religion, and the equality of all citizens of >the country irrespective of their faith, caste, creed or sex." > > The appeasement of minorities which has hugely distorted our demographic >profile, the appeasement of minorities which has prevented successive rulers to >enforce various court verdicts for clearing encroachments in and around the >historic Jama Masjid, the appeasement of minorities which led the Congress >Party soon after its return to power last May in New Delhi to increase the Haj >pilgrimage subsidy is indeed nothing but a mere ploy to lure the Muslims into a >false sense of security. It is what they call pseudo-secularism. > > Protesting against illegal infiltration from Bangladesh or, for that >matter, any other country, warning against ISI infiltration, do not make one >communal or anti-Muslim. The socio-economic uplift of the Muslims is the best >guarantee against their exploitation by the champions of pseudosecularism. The >NDA's reiteration of its secularist position should clear the confusion and >allow it to perform its role as a responsible opposition to the ruling >coalition's various acts of omission and commission. > > > > > >------------------------------- >This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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