BJP sticks to politics, dumps Hindutava

Defining the battlelines for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Sangh Parivar has decided that the BJP will focus on development and decisive leader agenda, while the affiliated groups — such as the VHP — will help revive the "Hindu Identity". Shishir Gupta reports.

Defining the battlelines for 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Sangh Parivar has decided that the BJP will focus on development and decisive leader agenda, while the affiliated groups — such as the VHP — will help revive the "Hindu Identity" through Ram Janmabhoomi movement and the UPA charge of saffron terrorism.

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While the BJP core group met on Friday to work out the reconstitution of its Parliamentary Board, Central Election Committee and the National Executive by the end of this month, top RSS, BJP and VHP leaders met at the residence of Goa LS MP Shripad Naik on Thursday to chalk out the future strategy and coordination among the Sangh affiliates.

The meeting was attended by top BJP, RSS and VHP leaders.

Party sources said it was decided at the meeting that Sangh affiliates would work to revive and bring back the focus on Hindutva issues with Ram Janmabhoomi movement, which is being re-launched at Kumbh Mela at Sant Mahasammelan on February 7 a day after the VHP Kendriya Marg Darshak Mandal meets in Allahabad.

The BJP, on its part, will concentrate on the political agenda of attacking the "rudderless" UPA government and showcase the development achieved in states ruled by the party, particularly Gujarat.

Besides discussion on giving Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi a larger role at the national level, the party also talked of the possibility of including Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh in the BJP Parliamentary Board, the larger issue was coordination among the Sangh affiliates.

With the Sangh Parivar determined to project a united face for 2014 elections, differences between BJP and VHP were ironed out to rule out possibility of any conflicting statements in the future on core issues.

At Thursday's meeting, the Sangh leadersalso decided to target the UPA on so-called saffron terrorism with the aim of polarizing voters on the grounds that the UPA ministers — P Chidambaram and Sushilkumar Shinde — were deliberately "hurting" Hindu sentiments.

“Further fine-tuning will be done at the Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the RSS on March 15-17, 2013 at Jaipur after reviewing the response to Ramjanambhoomi movement revival," a party leader said.