“We are the sole beneficiaries of the antiestablishment factor now. Earlier, we used to share this advantage with other parties. Now the entire Opposition space is occupied by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Only the BJP and its allies are in a position to voice the people’s antipathy against the Government. Every other party will be colluding to hide the Government’s sins,” asserted BJP president L.K. Advani al a press conference in Bhopal.
His statement was a clear reflection of the political resolution endorsed by the party national executive which wound up its deliberations at Bhopal June 23. But even as the party hopes to reap the benefits that traditionally accrue to the Opposition, much as Indira Gandhi did in 1980, the BJP is acutely aware that it lacks what the Congress had in 1980 a national support base. It has, therefore, decided to make a concerted effort in the coming months to make inroads into the South and East where it won only seven seats in the recent general elections.
An action plan to give the party the push it needs in the South and the East to capture power at the Center was endorsed during the three-day conclave of the national executive. Announcing the first phase of the campaign, Advani said that from July 15 to August 15, the entire top brass of the party, led by former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and himself, would tour extensively to expand the party’s support base through an ideological debate on two themes “secularism” and the “hijacking of the 1996 election mandate.” The party also plans to hold zonal meetings in Bangalore and Calcutta next month at which state unit leaders from this region’s arc expected to interact with Vajpayee and Advani to frame slate specific strategies for the party’s growth and expansion.
The BJP president said there was a unanimous agreement in the national executive that the party should concentrate on expanding in new geographical areas and that different strategies would have to be adopted for each state. He emphasized that Vajpayee would continue to be projected as the shadow prime minister. He added his party would also like to finalize a shadow cabinet in the future, following the example of British politics.
He rejected a recent suggestion made by the United Front Government for the construction of a national monument at the disputed Ramjanambhoomi site in Ayodhya. “We believe that only a Ram mandir should be built there,” he asserted, reiterating that a solution to the dispute would emerge only through negotiations or legislation, and not through litigation.
Defending the curious omission of the hawala issue in the tirade against corruption in the political resolution, Advani said the matter was already in court whereas the St. Kitts case and the urea scam needed action by the executive, “In any case, we have always said that the hawala matter should be pursued to its logical end and those who are guilty should be punished,” he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 26, 1996
