No compromise on ideology, say BJP overseas friends

Many NRIs feel that the BJP has enough leaders to take the mantle from Advani, reports Lalit K Jha.

Several leaders and members of the Overseas Friends of the BJP in the US appeared to be bit relieved following the news that their party president, LK Advani, had resigned from the post, as they were feeling "uncomfortable" with his statements on "Jinnah and secularism" during his recent visit to Pakistan.

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Though many of them "felt sorry" over the state of affairs of the party back home, which was in power for about six years, they are unanimous at one point: "No compromise with the ideology, for which we have fought so long, even if this means, we have to dump any leader."

While some termed his statements as "undesirable", for few others the party had enough capable leaders to take the mantle from Advani after his resignation.

Chandra Kant Patel, vice president of the Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) in U.S., told HindustanTimes.com: "Advani should not have given such statements on either Jinnah or Babri Masjid in Pakistan given the circumstances the BJP is in right now."

Observing that Advani could have given a "politico-strategic" statement with the primary objective of giving a fillip to the on-going Indo-Pak peace process, he said: "But for BJP workers, this was very disappointing. All throughout, we have all fought for all this. We have a distinct ideology and there could be no compromise on this issue."

Echoing the views of many others in OFBJP, Patel felt that Advani should not withdraw his resignation. "There are enough capable leaders in the party, to take up the mantle of the BJP presidentship," he said.

Arguing that Jinnah was the architect of the two nation theory and was solely responsible for India along with the Congress, Dinesh Aggarwal, the immediate past president of the OFBJP-USA, said: "Under no circumstances, Jinnah could be considered as secular."

Although Aggarwal observed Advani's remarks should be seen in context of the ongoing "peace process" and Jinnah's statement in the Pakistani Assembly after independence, he said: "We are with the BJP for ideological reasons and that there could be no compromise on this issue."

Staying constantly in touch with the BJP leaders in India, Aggarwal said: "This is a crisis situation for them. We feel sorry. We hope, they would very soon be able to select a new party president."

He observed, the party had now become more confused with these developments.

While, these could be opinion of a majority of the members of the OFBJP-U.S, officially it came out in defense of Advani.

"One has to look the context into which he said. He was reminding to the world and also to the people of Pakistan, the promise Jinnah made to the world that Pakistan would be a secular country where Hindu and Muslim could live together in communal harmony. It is another matter that subsequent rulers of Pakistan forgot this," Subrahmanyam Vemuri, its president, said.