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NDA : Janata Dal (United) may quit |
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The Janata Dal (United) is under pressure to sever its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party if the latter returns to its Hindutva (Hindu activism) ideology. The decision, taken at its National Executive meeting, more or less signals the beginning of the party’s parting of ways with the BJP and the weakening of the National Democratic Alliance. This came at a time when the BJP’s top leadership was seriously contemplating a return to Hindutva at the “chintan baithak” (introspection meet) in Goa.
The NDA convener and president of the JD(U), George Fernandes, presided over the two-day meeting which began on July 31 and heard out member after member pleading for the party to return to its roots of “socialism and secularism” and part company with the BJP. The meeting called for all socialists and like-minded people to rally together.
Since the party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha election, there has been pressure on the JD(U) leadership to go it alone in the coming Assembly elections in five States. The appeal was renewed with vigour from members from Jharkhand, Bihar and Karnataka.
A resolution moved by the former Union Minister, Digvijay Singh, and seconded by the former chairman of the Central Warehousing Corporation, K.C. Tyagi, said: “The Janata Dal (United) is proud of its heritage whose roots are in the democratic socialist movement led by Narendra Dev, Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia - men, whose minds were influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s life and thoughts, in which there was no room for religious bigotry and secularism was a way of life. This heritage will be our guiding light.”
Participants blamed the election debacle on the tie-up with the BJP in States such as Bihar and Karnataka. Many of them clearly blamed it on communal violence in Gujarat and said they lost the Muslim vote because it was perceived that voting for them meant voting for a [“communal”] party like the BJP.
The meeting deplored some of the economic policies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government, the emergence of two power centres in the UPA, the issue of “tainted” Ministers, the move by the Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, to strike at the “federal polity” by depriving the neighbouring states of river waters.
The meeting was attended by the JD(U) leaders like Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Jagannath Mishra, the Yuva Janata Dal(U) president, Govind Yadav and State presidents and office-bearers.
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