New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday adopted a political resolution owning collective responsibility for its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and insisting that its Hindutva ideology was inclusive.
"Hinduism or Hindutva is not to be understood or construed narrowly confined only to religious practices or expressed in extreme forms," the resolution said.
"It is, therefore, inclusive representing the finest imprints of our cultural and civilisational ideas. This profound concept is the real inspiration for a resurgent India with which the BJP is proud to be associated," it said.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani urged the party to follow a tolerant version of Hindutva while maintaining its ties with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
Advani told the concluding day of the BJP’s two-day national executive internal bickering had demoralised the workers of the party--a hint at leaders who have been complaining against electoral strategy and want blame for it fixed.
Advani told the closed-door meeting it is wrong to blame individuals for the party’s defeat--a defence of Aurn Jaitley, who played a key role in forming electoral strategy and is now the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Advani said the party has to “urgently evolve a system of encouraging younger leaders at all levels”.
"It is sad that a certain 'train compartment mentality' has got developed within the party, which makes those in leadership positions to ignore promising, talented and committed cadres who are standing 'outside' and waiting for the door to open," said Advani, 81.
"It is a matter of concern that our party seems to be plateau-ing in some states, which are our strongholds, and have actually suffered big reversals in some others," he said.
Former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu, who briefed the media about the party’s meeting, said the party needed to articulate its ideology better.
Naidu said the BJP would play a “constructive role” as the main Opposition and would “bounce” book. “Defeat is fact of life--we will bounce back. Some people love the defeat of the BJP; we request them to go through the facts--we are still strong,” he said.
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"We respect the verdict of the people. After detailed discussions and receiving inputs from different state units it was concluded with confidence that ours is a mission and we have the patience, calibre and stamina to withstand this setback and prepare for the future," Naidu said.
Naidu warned dissent by party leaders won’t help them. “Speaking ill about the party in public is a contagious disease. We need to be careful. Neither the party nor the individual leader will benefit from this,” he said.
Naqvi vs Maneka
The second day of the meeting saw party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi accusing Aonla MP Maneka Gandhi, of leaking party information to the media.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Maharashtra BJP leader Gopinath Munde rejected Maneka’s argument that the BJP could afford to ignore Muslims because the community didn’t vote for it anyway.
The national executive comprehensively discussed Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi's hate messages and Hindutva.
The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) has also called for a meeting of its top leaders on June 25 in New Delhi to assess the BJP’s reaffirmation to Hindutva.
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