BJP falls back on tested Hindutva

The three-day Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive here ended today with the party firmly on the course to reviving its Hindutva plank.

Taking a cue from former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani's speech yesterday, the party adopted a paper "Tasks Ahead" as part of its political resolution.

It stated that the primacy to ideology (read Hindutva) that the party seemed to have put on the backburner, had to be revived.

"We should not be defensive or apologetic about projecting our distinctive ideological identity, about our relationship with other nationalist organisations and also about our commitment to comprehensive social progress inspired by the eternal and universal values of our civilisation," it said.

Aimed at energising a demoralised party cadre, it also stressed on mounting a "powerful and sustained counter-offensive against all those ideologies and political forces, especially the Congress and communists, who reject Hindutva as the basic identity of the Indian nation and who have perverted the ideal of secularism for their narrow political ends".

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's public confession on Gujarat also came in for some adverse comment in the resolution.

"There is an urgent need to promote and strengthen the culture of discipline and self-discipline at all levels, beginning with higher echelons," it said.

The criticism went on. "One of the manifestations of indiscipline is the tendency to use the media to air one's grievances. Wittingly or unwittingly, some people in the party share organisational matters with the media. This causes considerable damage to the party's image and internal cohesion," the paper, said.

The target of the criticism was also Keshubhai Patel, veteran Gujarat leader and Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Patel has been publicly critical of Modi even after the BJP parliamentary board let Modi off the hook. But Modi also was not spared, in the section where the correctives for the party were being discussed.

The resolution pointed out that the rapidly gathering impression that acts of indiscipline would be condoned and that even serious cases of anti-party activities would be overlooked "has done immense damage to the health of the organisation".

But Modi also was not spared, in the section where the correctives for the party were being discussed. "Personal conduct and style of functioning" were said to be part of the party's ideology itself. The two cannot be separated. Therefore, commitment to ideology has to be measured also against the yardstick of behaviour and style of functioning," it said.

In all, the infighting and confusion, the party seemed to be intent on holding on to a tried and tested formula, the electoral defeat seems to be pushing the party in the direction of Hindutva.

On governance and legislative front, the document wanted setting high standards of performance by improving the running the BJP-ruled state governments and said in Parliament, the people expect the BJP to be "an opposition party with a difference".

The parliamentary wing would soon prepare a plan of action on the issue, the political resolution said .