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| 'BJP not apologetic about Hindutva, core issues' |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Jun 21, 2009, 00:34 IST |
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Rejecting the growing demand from party men that Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) discard Hindutva in view of its defeat in the recent Lok sabha elections, party chief Rajnath Singh today said the BJP would not distance from its ideological moorings.
“We are not apologetic about issues like building of the Ram temple and demanding abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, that we had raised in the elections,’’ Singh told BJP leaders while opening the two-day meeting of the party’s national executive. Some 170 leaders drawn from all over the country are mainly debating the causes of BJP’s worst-ever performance since 1999 Lok Sabha elections.
Singh said, while there were various reasons for the BJP’s defeat in the elections, apparently there was no link between the electoral results and the party’s belief in pursuing Hindutva and core issues. “Was this election a referendum on Hindutva?’’ he asked.
Rajnath Singh’s speech hinted at the continuing hold of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the BJP at a time when the latter is riven with identity crisis, internal dissension, leadership tussles and confusion about its future. However, BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad later claimed Rajnath Singh had advocated the line of BJP pursuing a “modern version of Hindutva.”
Singh also tried to take a moral high-ground among his peers by owning up the responsibility for the party’s defeat in the elections. “If anyone has to take responsibility for the unexpected results of the Lok sabha elections for the BJP, then I, as the president of the Party, am ready for it,’’ he said.
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