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BJP : Back to hardcore Hindutva |
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New BJP president Rajnath Singh has said that he wants the party to return to its Hindutva roots. Addressing the party’s national council on Friday, Jan. 20, immediately after it approved his selection for the party president’s post, Rajnath Singh raised all the core Hindutva issues - building of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, uniform civil code, abrogation of Art.370 of the Constitution and steps to check “infiltration” from Bangladesh. He also indicated that the RSS fiat on primacy to Hindutva and cutting down influence of a few individuals in the party would be obeyed.
Singh also showed that he would be everyone’s man rather than align with power centres. His address accordingly mentioned not only the BJP’s Big Two - A.B. Vajpayee and L.K. Advani - but also a host of senior leaders, including Sangh favourite M.M. Joshi and low profile past president K. Jana Krishnamurthi.
The contributions of Vajpayee and Advani found equal mention as did Joshi’s 1991 Ekta Yatra in Srinagar. Clearly, the Sangh desire for collective leadership was at work.
Party delegates unanimously elected Singh after his predecessor Advani proposed his name and senior leader Jaswant Singh seconded it. Thereafter, Singh got Vajpayee’s blessings. The party patriarch cleared the confusion created by his “Ram-Laxman” remark favouring Pramod Mahajan at the recent national council meet in Mumbai, while observing that the “change of season” in the party after a storm would prove auspicious for the entire country.
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Uma Bharti to float new party in June
Encouraged by the response to her recent Bhopal to Ayodhya yatra (journey), expelled BJP leader Uma Bharti has said that she would float a new party in June. Reports say that initially her focus would be on Uttar Pradesh where Assembly elections are due next year. Her political party will be based on the core ideology of Hindutva.
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