The Hindu : No legislation on Ayodhya: BJP chief

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 20, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

No legislation on Ayodhya: BJP chief

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI APRIL 19. The clear message today from the Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, was: drought or no drought, no mid-term Lok Sabha elections, and no legislation on Ayodhya. The Government needed more time for implementing some of its projects and it intended to go to the people on the issue of development alone. As for Ayodhya, he completely squashed the repeated demand from within the Sangh Parivar for a solution through legislation. ``If the court decides the matter, we will have to accept. A law was not possible because we do not have the requisite strength in Parliament,'' he said.

Mr. Naidu was addressing over 150 party workers, most of them holding the key posts of organising secretaries at the national, State and district levels, on the concluding day of a four-day workshop at Bijwasan near here.

Mr. Naidu emphasised the importance of ``a continuous dialogue'' with ``nationalist organisations (that is, all the RSS affiliates working in different fields),'' even if the stance of some of them at times appeared to be at odds with the BJP stand on specific issues. Those affiliates needed to address their own constituencies but the BJP's policies were based on a more holistic view, he said. ``The BJP must remember that these organisations are also working in the national interest.''

With elections round the corner, the party clearly wanted to avoid any quarrel within the Sangh Parivar. The BJP must remember that the other RSS affiliates had their agendas, but the BJP as a political party had its own separate agenda, which could not be dictated by the other RSS outfits. ``As a political party we have to be clear, we will determine our own agenda... we cannot give in to some impossible sectoral demands like loan waivers.'' The BJP ``should listen to'' the other RSS affiliates and it ``should not doubt their integrity''. At the same time he decried the use of ``harsh language and strong remarks'' by leaders of some of the RSS affiliates.

The other clear signal given to the organising secretaries of the party, most of them whole-time workers and RSS pracharaks, was that in the coming organisational elections in the party a ``consensus'' approach should be adopted. In short, contested elections should be frowned upon, and if consensus was not possible at any level, the State president should be consulted.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Waiting for Pak. response to offer of friendship: PM

Deadlock in talks with truckers continues

Arab nations want coalition forces to leave Iraq

U.S. offer to Pak.

No legislation on Ayodhya: BJP chief

Probe will be impartial: Mayawati

Another SARS case in India

Hong Kong sees 12 SARS deaths in a day

Togadia bail plea: Hearing adjourned

POTA invoked against 10

AAFI bans two athletes