Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday declared that the party had “faced more adversities than the Congress would have under British rule” and exhorted cadres to stick to ideology rather than cleave to populism.
Earlier he laid the foundation stone for a new headquarters for the BJP on Deendayal Upadhyaya Marg. The function was attended by BJP presidents past and present, including senior leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi and current president Amit Shah.
Mr. Modi lamented that “every effort” of the party was made to be seen in a “bad light.”
“The BJP will be the only party which has faced adversities since its birth. It faced difficulties at every turn and its every effort was seen in bad light. Even during the British times, the Congress party would not have faced so much adversity that we, our dedicated workers have gone through in 50-60 years,” he said, after a nearly two-hour bhoomi poojan ceremony.
He asked cadres to present to the country and the democratic world an example of how a party “devoted to ideals and devoid of dynasty” functions; the world knows the saffron outfit “not the way it is but based on hearsay.”
“During the recent West Bengal Assembly polls, it was difficult for the BJP candidates to even hire an office in Kolkata as anybody willing to give them space would face trouble,” he said in an apparent attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress.
“Anybody can collect a crowd by talking about populist issues but what is more important is to stick to ideology”, he said.
In a lighter vein, he said election candidates of no other party would have forfeited more deposits than those of the BJP as they kept fighting for their ideology irrespective of the results.
He said the BJP’s ideology became an object of study, when in its previous avatar of the Jan Sangh it came to power in Madhya Pradesh in 1969. “The world was surprised again over how much we had grown when the government of [former prime minister] Vajpayee ji was formed. The world’s curiosity has arisen again now,” he said.
Archival material
He said it was necessary to collect archival material related to the party and its organisational activities. “This party has not grown due to some leader, prime minister or chief minister but due to its lakhs of dedicated workers,” he said.
Mr. Amit Shah said the Modi government at the Centre, “remains as popular as it was when it took oath. It is our responsibility to lend permanence to the support the party has received.”
