COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

BJP goes ballistic with its five Bs

The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies will adopt their national agenda for governance as the common manifesto in the coming Lok Sabha elections. The party is seeking a 'clear and full mandate' as the country has not seen any government with absolute majority since 1984.

Briefing the media after the party executive meeting on Sunday, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani said the party cadre had been warned not to be 'overconfident and complacent' as the Opposition will 'not observe any scruples to ensure that the BJP and its allies do not attain their goal'.

Advani, who addressed the executive on the concluding day (Sunday), made it clear that the BJP's positive track record of governance would be the basis for their appeal to the electorate for a full mandate.

He said, ''Our victory is guaranteed by the five Bs: bomb (national security), bus to Pakistan (peace with neighbours), Bihar (protection to Dalits and ending the politics of criminalisation), budget (sound pro-people and pro-India economic policies) and betrayal (the Congress-led Opposition's callous disregard for stability).

''While the first four Bs are in our favour, the last one goes against us,'' Advani said. Summarising the 'mood' of the people, he said the voters want to 'punish' all those who had pulled down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government without any alternative.

He said the 'final shape' of the NAG would emerge only after receiving inputs from new allies. Advani said he had the 'Dravida Munnetra Kazagham in mind' when he talked about new allies. Asked about the Telugu Desam Party, he said the party was not an ally of the BJP as of today.

Asked why the BJP was criticising Congress president Sonia Gandhi while they were projecting Vajpayee as the leader of the allies, Advani clarified that ''dynasty was different from personality. You can have a number of programmes and policies and they are easy to explain to the masses through a powerful personality,'' he explained.

Recent developments, Advani explained, have also fully exposed the bogey of communalism around which the Congress, Communists, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal and others had constructed their single-point anti-BJP campaign.

In sharp contrast to the total disarray in the Opposition camp, the BJP-led alliance has shown its rock-solid unity. ''This contrast will surely bring many partners to us in the run-up to the elections,'' Advani added. He, however, did not disclose the new partners''.

Replying to another question, Advani said the Samajwadi Party's decision not to go with the Congress in providing an alternative government ''does not mean that the SP is there to bail us out.''

In his own remarks to the national executive, Prime Minister Vajpayee has advised his partymen to refrain from making the election campaign too personality-centred. He said they should focus on issues and achievements.

Vajpayee noted that one of their major achievements had been ''the way we managed coalition politics. The BJP has successfully passed the agnipareeksha of coalition politics.''

Describing his allies as valuable partners, the prime minister said the BJP's relationship with them was not only for political gain. It has a wider socio-cultural significance.

''By sharing power with them at the Centre, and by collectively conducting the affairs of governance with a national perspective, our alliance has contributed greatly in strengthening India's unity and integrity. One of the main reasons why the Opposition could not put together an alternative dispensation was the Congress party's unwillingness to share power with other parties,'' he observed.

According to him, the Pokhran nuclear tests and peace with Pakistan were two sides of the same coin. ''Our initiative to start the bus service to Lahore has blotted the false image of the BJP being an anti-Muslim party,'' he added. Vajpayee was confident that Advani, who has at the 'driver's wheel of the party's campaign vehicle', would lead it successfully to its destination.

The national executive, in a resolution, has lashed out at the Congress for criticising regional parties for 'lacking in national perspective' and working to the 'detriment of India'. The executive asserted that the interests of India could be 'served best by involving regional parties in the process of governance'.

Advani said he would like to contest from his present constituency Gandhinagar in Gujarat unless the party otherwise desires. Asked about Vajpayee, he said obviously he would like to contest from his old seat, Lucknow.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report