With the shock defeat of 2004 still haunting the party, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Tuesday told his upbeat partymen not to commit again the mistake of being overconfident.
In a veiled reference, he also sought to rake up the foreign origin issue of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and apparently attacked the communists for 'being guided by foreign-born ideologies'.
These remarks of Advani were contained in a printed 'Concluding Remarks' circulated at the BJP National Council meeting, which he did not read out. He made an extempore speech that did not contain these references.
Referring to the enthusiasm in the party after the poll victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, Advani said it was good to be optimistic and confident but noted that overconfidence leads to complacency.
"We have suffered once on account of this. We must not commit that mistake again," he said, adding but 'let us realise that there was no pot of gold waiting for us to pick up.'
Seeking to revive the foreign origin issue of Gandhi, he said just because 'swadeshi' (insistence on Indianness) does not explicitly figure in the BJP commitments 'let nobody get the impression we now consider it to be unimportant.'
"We are proud of being the votaries and upholders of Swadeshi by which we mean allegiance to Indianness and to an Indian way of integrated development-based essentially on our own resources... and guided by our own glorious cultural-civilizational-spiritual heritage," Advani said.
Targeting Congress and CPI-M, he said, "If some parties in India wish to be guided by foreign-born ideologies and foreign-born leadership, they will certainly realise the limitations of doing so."
"While rejoicing the BJP's victory in Gujarat, let us not think that our political and ideological adversaries will admit to their mistakes and reform their ways. They are dogmatic, well-entrenched and at least some of them are patronised by foreign forces that are hostile to India, want Indian society to remain divided and Indian state to remain soft," the BJP leader said.
He, however, did not name who these adversaries are.
Advani alleged these anti-India forces do not want to see BJP emerge strong and powerful because they know that 'whereas the spirit of nationalism has grown weak in the Congress, it is robust and uncompromising in BJP.'
Advani cautioned that these anti-India forces wearing the mask of defence of 'secularism' could become more active and vicious in the days to come.
In a move to attract new allies, he told regional parties, "If you really wish to see a positive change at the Centre, let us together strengthen our common battle against the UPA government."
He had a special appeal for anti-Communist parties in West Bengal and Kerala.
"Please do not be under the illusion that either the Communists will completely severe their links with Congress or Congress will abandon the Communists. The surest and the only way to defeat the Communists in West Bengal and Kerala is by strengthening the NDA," he said.
Advani also asked the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, going to polls this year, to address issues of internal dissension and factionalism, which he said has simply no place in the party.
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