M A I N   N E W S

Thakre defends subsidy cuts
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, April 15 — The National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party today began a two-day exercise to take stock of the political and economic situation in the country with the party President, Mr Kushabau Thakre, laying down the tasks before the party workers in the 21st century.

Setting the agenda for the meeting, Mr Thakre in his inaugural address spoke about the challenges before the party in the changed political scenario and in the overall context of today’s economic situation.

The National Executive also passed a resolution on the killing of innocent Sikhs in Chattisinghpura in Jammu and Kashmir. Blaming Pakistan for the massacre of the Sikhs, the resolution said these killings were a part of its larger game plan of ethnic cleansing in the valley.

Mr Thakre said the government had done the right thing by insisting that no meaningful talks were possible with Pakistan till Islamabad gave up its policy of cross-border terrorism.

The National Executive, which is being attended by 125 delegates, after deliberating on the political and economic situation will pass two separate resolutions on the subjects tomorrow, party spokesman, Mr Narender Modi told newspersons.

Touching on the state of the economy, Mr Thakre strongly defended the government’s decision to cut subsidies in the recent Union Budget saying “carrying the burden of subsidies beyond a point is virtually impossible for any government”.

He said people need to be explained that subsidy bills get carried over and it would be their children who would have to bear their burden. This was hardly conducive to a healthy economy, he added.

There were also other extraneous factors over which the government had no control. For instance, if world oil prices rise, the oil bill automatically shoots up and it would be unfair to expect the government to pick up this bill.

He said people need to be told that harsh decisions were needed to correct distortions in the economy just like a patient needs strong medicines to recover.

He urged the party cadres to vigorously project the positive outcome of the government’s initiatives like its thrust on rural development, low inflation rate and increased spending on human development.

The BJP President listed four tasks before party workers in the 21st century. These include:

• Expand further the political, organisational and electoral base so as to emerge as the most powerful political force in the country and make the BJP into a truly mass party;
• Understand the changing political scenario and in this context strengthen ties with the allies in the National Democratic Alliance in order to defeat the nefarious designs of Opposition parties;
• Mobilise support for government initiatives wherever it is in power — both at the Centre and in the states — explaining to the masses the various steps taken by the government to find solutions to the problems facing the people;
• Carry the party’s message of patriotism and nationalism to all members of the great Indian family, especially those sections of the society to whom the party has not been able to reach out.

Tracing the rise of the party during the past 20 years (the party celebrated its 20th founding day on April 6), Mr Thakre said the BJP today had become the largest political party in the country with more than two crore members. It was the leading member of the ruling NDA and Mr Vajpayee, the founder President of the BJP, was the Prime Minister and the tallest leader in the country.

He said the last three general elections had seen a major shift in Indian politics with the Congress losing its position as the dominant political force and suffering continuous erosion in its electoral strength.

Mr Thakre said the new emerging polity revolved around the politics of three ‘C’s — coalition, consensus and cooperation.

Referring to the recent Rajya Sabha elections, Mr Thakre pointed to the “despicable methods” used by certain individuals, who happen to have access to money power. “Cross-voting, irrespective of which party stands to lose from it, is a blot on our polity as it is nothing short of abusing the system of secret ballot for personal gains. This is perversion of democracy”, he said.

He said there was a need to look at the debasement and abuse of secret voting and consider ways and means of tackling the problem. He hoped the Election Commission, too, would take serious note of this “perversion” and seek the opinion of all parties on possible cures for the malady.

On the recent Assembly elections in Haryana, Bihar, Manipur and Orissa, Mr Thakre said the BJP had done well in all states, except Haryana. “In Haryana we fared poorly, the reasons for which we should look into”.