It's back to Hindutva: Advani

In a clear message, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief LK Advani today asked the BJP rank and file to nurse the party's core constituency of voters. He also attributed the BJP's defeat in the 2004 general elections to the alienation of its vote bank.

At the party's national council meeting in Delhi that kicked off BJP's silver jubilee celebrations, Advani repeatedly referred to the "close" ties between the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the party.

"The main reason why the BJP came into being was because we were forced to choose between the old Janata Party and the RSS," said Advani.

As part of the back-to-basics approach, he asked "patriotic economists" in the BJP to re-orient reforms for villages, farmers, labourers and the poor.

"It should be based on the re-formulation of the concepts of swadeshi and swavalamban," he said in an obvious reference to a section of "swadeshi" economists angry with the BJP's rampant pursuit of foreign direct investment.

Part of the speech was an analysis of the electoral loss suffered by the party in May 2004. "Just as every MP or MLA has to nurse his constituency well in order to be able to get re-elected, every political party also has to nurse its core constituency of ideological supporters and organisational workers to win a renewed mandate," said Advani. "We took our core constituency for granted," he added.

The BJP chief flayed the government over the issue of population explosion and the rising number of illegal migrants in the country, especially from Bangladesh.

"The government should repeal the IMDT Act in Assam and call an all-party meeting on Bangladeshi infiltration," he said.

"Instead of examining the reasons and repercussions of this phenomenon (population explosion among minorities), the Congress-Communist combine forced the Census commissioner to withdraw his statement," Advani said.

He called for expanding the party's social base. In a special reference to Uttar Pradesh, Advani called for a revival of the party in the state.

In a mild rap to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his chronic problem with dissidence, Advani asked for better co-ordination between the party and its state government, asking neither to "overlook its boundaries".

Significantly, senior BJP leader Uma Bharti was not present at the national council as she reportedly meditating in Amarkantak in Uttaranchal. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur refused to comment on Bharti's absence.