Mumbai, December 29
Even as it kept quiet on Hindutva, the BJP today strongly hit out at its MPs, who were expelled from the Parliament for their involvement in the cash-for-questions scam, and promised to rectify the shortcomings plaguing the party.
In a political resolution adopted here today, The BJP chose a starkly different line than the one taken by Mr L.K. Advani who had rather mildly ticked off the erring MPs for "their act of stupidity".
Mr Advani’s colleagues openly disagreed with him, in the presence of media, during the BJP's silver jubilee celebrations here, thus forcing the party to take a tough stand on the issue.
The resolution, clearly indicating that corrupt MPs had no place in a democracy, said: “ The BJP unreservedly expresses its regrets over the involvement of some of its elected representatives. Such people have no place in a parliamentary democracy.”
However, in a bid to lend a face-saver to the party's outgoing president, Mr L.K.Advani, the Advani camp managed a brief deploration of the “short-circuiting (of) disciplinary procedures” which resulted in the expulsion of the MPs.
The most obvious deviance from the Advani line came from his one-time protege, Ms Sushma Swaraj, who, amidst wide applause, said: “We are ashamed of it.”
Ms Swaraj, who relentlessly drove home the impact of the scandal, continued: "It is very unfortunate that such an incident occurred. If these leaders had not accepted bribes then we would have been able to hold our heads high and proclaim that we are indeed a party with a difference. But now it is not possible."
Echoing Ms Swaraj’s views and clearly aiming at Mr L.K. Advani, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh went a step further and lashed out at the party leadership for putting up criminals as candidates.
“All political parties, including the BJP, should rethink on the criminilisation of politics fuelled by their tendency to give tickets to criminals,” he said even as Mr Advani looked on.
"So what if we lose a few seats but our stature would go up," Mr Kalyan Singh said seeking an end to criminilisation of politics.
However, leaders like Ms Swaraj could not resist taking potshots at the Congress. "What right does the Congress have to give us moral lectures on corruption?" she asked.
"The UPA's stonewalling on the Volcker report should be contrasted with the alacrity of the Congress to act in the cash-for-questions scandal," the political resolution said.
Ms Swaraj directly hit out at the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, thundering: "I have heard that she has warned her party not to get influenced by the BJP. I would like to ask whether she has the courage for it.
“Sonia Gandhiji, do you know what the influence of the BJP is? It is a campaign against dynasty and vote bank politics. Do you have the courage to introduce that in your party?"
With realpolitik in mind, the BJP chose to keep quiet on all three controversial issues it has been promoting.
The political resolution was silent on the Common Civil Code, Article 370 and Hindutva. The BJP insisted that the NDA was alive and was a "government-in-waiting".
"The coming months present challenges and opportunities to the BJP. The ramshackle UPA is riddled with internal contradictions and lacks coherence," the resolution said.
A section of the BJP, led by the hawkish Kalyan Singh, continued to insist on the importance of Hindutva.
"The BJP needed to adopt an aggressive posture on Hindutva to regain confidence of the people," Mr Kalyan Singh said.
The BJP, in its economic resolution, hit out at the UPA government's economic policies and said the Manmohan Singh government had failed to control prices and hadn't been able to create more jobs.
The UPA government was accused of "policy paralysis".
In the six-page resolution, the BJP put out a 16-point charter of demands which it said would help deprived sections of the society, including farmers who were committing suicides in various parts of the country.
The party also demanded that customs and excise duties on petroleum products be brought down.
Leading the attack on the UPA government were BJP leaders Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Murli Manohar Joshi. They criticised the government's economic reforms, particularly the attempts to allow FDI in the retail sector.
"Whether it be a sale of government shares in PSUs, modernisation of airports, creation of the pension fund authority, restructuring of
the banking sector, the government failed to implement its own Cabinet decisions,'' the resolution said.
The BJP also blasted the UPA government for its dependence on the Communist parties.
"We witness every day the pathetic spectacle of a helpless Prime Minister giving lectures on good economics, but meekly surrendering to the backseat driving of Communists," the resolution said.
Meanwhile, Mr L.K. Advani condemned the terror attack in Bangalore.
"Bangalore is the nation’s IT capital. The impression that it is also a terrorism-infested area would send bad signals," he said.
