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Advani acknowledges Muslim contribution in BJP victory
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To: ALT-HINDU@cis.ohio-state.edu
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Subject: Advani acknowledges Muslim contribution in BJP victory
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From: Dinesh Agrawal <DXA4@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
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Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 22:14:11 -0400 (EDT)
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From DXA4@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Tue Apr 11 22: 03:58 1995
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: Penn State University
ADVANI ACKNOWLEDGES MUSLIMS'VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION IN BJP VICTORY
Times of India, April 3, 1995
Panaji: Alerting his partymen to be ready to fill in the vacuum being created
in the country by the "disintegration of the Congress," BJP president LK
Advani today acknowledged the contribution made by the Muslim electorate to
his party's recent victories in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
He also asked his leaders to interact with minorities and allay their
misgivings about the BJP.
Addressing the national executive on the opening day of its three-day meet
here, Mr Advani told the members that a major factor which contributed to the
Congress debacle in the assembly elections was the anti-Congress mood of the
Muslim voter. He said the Congress had been the progenitor and the principal
promoter of minorityism and now this approach has boomeranged.
He said "secularism as practiced by the Congress and other adversaries of
the BJP is a sham. It is hypocrisy. It is what we describe as pseudo-secularism
a euphemism for votevank politics. More and more Muslims are coming to realise
that the BJP is an honest and straigthforward party which is committed to
secularism in a genuine sense. This ection of the Muslim electorate made a
very valuable contribution to the Gujarat and Maharashtra verdicts.
Mr Advani said the BJP was proud of its contribution to the Ayodhya movement
and those who condemn us as communal because of our forthright stand on Kashmir
Ayodhya, Bangladeshi infiltration and ISI activities are themselves actuated
by considerations of communal votebanks. He said his party would vigorously
continue to attack these "three fold maladies".
Reminding his partymen that the months ahead are challenging and also offer
us an opportunity we must not let go, Mr Advani said dangerous forces are
trying to fill the vacuum - forces of casteism, communalism and communism.
Along with corruption, these desperate and disparate forces threaten our very
existence and ethos. The question before us is no more being an altrnative
to the Congress. The BJP today is widely acknowledged as that. The task before
us is not merely victory in elections, but to keep the nation together.
He said, "In the potentially volatile Hindi belt we see today some strange
scenes. In Lucknow we witness a spectacle of Congress supported casteism,
in Patna it is Communist-backed casteism. In Bhopal, a sharply divided
Congress is all set for a fight to the finish. Together, these three states
account for one third of our parliament. The BJP is the only central common
force in all the three states and the largest single party. It is here that
the next major political battle will be fought."
In a sharp criticism of the Congress leadership, Mr Advani said "the
squabbling high command leading its doddering, dwindling troops is really
behaving like the blind Dhritarashtra of the Mahabharat. They encourage the
loot of India by their kith and kin; and they have reduced Indraprashtha, the
Delhi of today, to an immense Hall of Illusions."
On the economic reforms of the Congress government, Mr Advani said "it was
economic expediency and not any conviction which is behind the Congress party's
new found enthusiasm for liberalisation. For the Congress, liberalisation is
another opportunity to loot, as was the licence and permit raj, to amass
wealth." He said the BJP is the only party which had been persistently against
licence-permit-quota-raj and has always been advocating de-regulation,
delicencing and de-bureaucratisation.
While mentioning the laurels earned by the BJP in the previous two rounds
of assembly elections, Mr Advani cautioned his partymen that in all this
exhilirating news there is no reason for any euphoria. He said the proud
showing of the party has also cast us in a role that should make us humbler
as well as sterner. "The BJP is indeed growing, but it is worrisome that the
pace at which the Congress is collapsing is greater than the pace with which
we are growing," he added.
