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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Direction was right but failed to reach people

ET DEBATE
22 May, 2009
Tarun Vijay
The issues were just those the people wanted BJP to raise — harsh on terror; IT for the rural folks and commoners; five lakh Kashmiri Hindus be sent back; illegal Bangladeshi infiltration to be stopped; opposing Raj Thackeray’s divisive parochialism; bringing back black money from Swiss banks and de-communalising state schemes; making secularism mean seeing citizens as Indians and ending appeasement on religious grounds.

The best of the highway schemes, telecommunication revolution, roads, improved power supply and novel schemes for the girl child were essentially BJP initiatives earning laurels from bodies like planning Commission to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

BJP’s direction was decided by nationalism and not by family fiefdoms or Afzal-Quattrocchi centric considerations of an extra-constitutional variety. It stood firmly against the bloody jihadis of Nizame-Mustafa and Nizame-Marx kind and was the first party in India’s history to introduce 30% reservation for women.

It was the only party that had a clear policy framed for youth and infrastructure building with an assured economic package for farmers. Anything wrong in that?

Those who blame Hindutva forget that if India was not a Hindu majority we would have gone the Pakistan way. The entire south Asia is facing a rapid marginalisation and decrease in Hindu population. State powers are blatantly bruising Hindu sentiments for vote banks — communal reservations and hurting the majority on issues like Ram Setu. Why it has become a ‘sin’ to speak for them who continue to be brutalised from Swat to Srinagar?

Never in post-Independence history have security forces felt so letdown; ex-army personnel even returned their well-earned war-decorations in frustration. BJP took up their anguish. The top industrialists and corporate giants publicly appreciating BJP policies was a rare phenomenon.

Was it prompted by BJP’s ‘wrong’ direction? With the bright young radiant faces of the rich and powerful families entering Parliament triumphantly, Indian democracy has come a full circle. From Gandhi’s salt movement to a dynastic movement. The BJP direction was just right. The fault lies somewhere in reaching out to the people.

5 comments:

P Venugopal, India Syndicate said...

"With the third and fourth fronts disintegrating and the Left decimated, the Opposition space in the country is left to the BJP. If the BJP is to emerge as a viable alternative to the Congress, it has to give up its divisive agenda and take the middle path. It has to mould young faces to come to leadership positions."

Maximum Inc. said...

@Venugopal- What is divisive in the BJP's agenda is what I don't get.

BJP plays the real secular card, and wants to talk of all Indians as Indians. It is the Congress, which in the name of secularism is doing nonsense, talking separate identities for different people.

I agree with Shri. Tarun here

Anonymous said...

Thats true Tarun ji the problem is communication gap between the people and the BJP. They should fill that immediately otherwise nationalist people will loose their faith in the hindutva ideology and no can save india.

Unknown said...

Excellent Article. Tarunji I was watching your comment on NDTV. The matter related to Hindi language. It was excellent.But sorry to say in stead of defending the things with these so called anti hindu chanel, why not think tank like to press higest authority of BJP to start its own chanel in every state. otherwise it is very difficult to come to power.Please think over it.Bande Mataram

Unknown said...

Hardly. See there was no distinguishing factor between Congress or BJP. Both were addressing to the same constituency. People voted for a team that looked more capable than the one lead by Sri Adwani.
2. The people are more perceptive than what you would like to give them credit for.

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