We are not against minorities: BJP

The BJP today debunked claims that it is against minorities, with senior leader LK Advani terming them "motivated propaganda".

Citing examples to debunk this "motivated propaganda," Advani said "it is an important enough occasion for me to respond to the consistent propaganda that my party, the BJP, is anti-minorities and anti-Christian."

"Let me go back into history and cite a few examples to debunk this motivated propaganda," he said while addressing the golden jubilee celebration of the Archdiocese of Delhi here.

Recalling the early days he said, "the BJP's predecessor was the Bharatiya Jana Sangh which was formed by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951.  Mookerjee was an eminent freedom fighter who also served as India's first Industries Minister in Pandit Nehru's Cabinet."

"In the course of building the party in different parts of the country in the early fifties, he (Mookerjee) appointed barrister VK John as the chief of the Jana Sangh in Madras province.

The same propaganda was also heard at the time. Barrister John was asked: 'How can you, a Christian, accept to be an office-bearer of a communal party?' His answer was forthright: 'I know SP Mookerjee very well. He cannot be the president of a communal party'."

Giving another example from his political life, Advani said "Because of my school background, I often use Christian metaphors even in my political communication. When the BJP was born on 6th April 1980, it was Easter Sunday, the Day of Resurrection of Jesus Christ."

 
Recalling the post-Emergency days the Opposition leader said, "The Janata Party had been formed in 1977 by merging all the anti-Emergency parties, including the Jana Sangh, into a common political organisation to challenge the Congress led by Indira Gandhi.

"However, we were later constrained to form our own party because those of us who belonged to the erstwhile Jana Sangh were expelled from the Janata Party in 1979 on the dubious 'Dual Membership' issue.

Some of our colleagues in the Janata Party objected to our association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The expulsion took place on Good Friday, the day of Crucifixion of Jesus Christ," he said.

Quoting from his early speech, Advani said "It is not without significance that we were expelled from the Janata Party on the day of Crucifixion of Christ, and that we are experiencing our political rebirth in the form of the BJP on the day of Resurrection of Christ."

Advani added, "I am myself a product of a Church-run school - St. Patrick's High School in Karachi, which was in undivided India before Partition. All my teachers in the school, including Father Modestine, the principal, were Christian."

On the issue of whether Jesus Christ had visited India he said, "Whatever be the historical fact, the truth is that Jesus Christ and his teachings belong not just to the region in which he was born but to the entire world."