Amid talk of rethink in the BJP about its organisation and ideological thrust, party president Rajnath Singh dismissed it as media creation, saying victory and defeat of a party are part of the natural political process and the party only needs to clear the confusion in people’s minds about what it stands for.
The BJP president also ruled out seeking another term. “There is no need to go through all this trouble of amending the party’s constitution only so that I can continue on this post. The party has already given me enough and I have worked in all senior positions. I should make way for someone else,” said Singh.
Asked what the party needs to take up on a priority after the electoral debacle, the senior BJP leader said the prime task now before the BJP was to consolidate and expand its base, gain confidence of the people and remove any confusion they have about its ideology or thought.
The BJP president agreed completely with RSS mouthpiece Organiser that the electoral defeat was not due to BJP’s ideology of Hindutva.
“How can we ever think of abandoning an ideology that brought the party to such heights? And ours is not an ideology that creates differences or hatred on grounds of religion, race or caste. All this is a confusion created in people’s minds by our political opponents and we need to remove it,” the BJP president said.
“Justice and humanism is the basis of our ideology; humanism is at the centre of our thought. Other parties foment differences between communities and create a sense of fear among them for political gains,” Singh said.
Referring to occasional murmurs in the Sangh Parivar for the need for a change in relations with the BJP, Singh said the relationship “was, is and will remain the way it has always been”.
“Relationships are not redefined time and again, whether by individuals or organisations. Those who do it are opportunists.”
For now, the BJP sees its role as the main opposition party, “which is so important in a democracy”. “For a while, however, we will have to wait out the ‘honeymoon’ period of this government,” he said.
He said the BJP would perform its role as opposition party with responsibility and constructively. In this context, he referred to the charge of attacks on prime minister Manmohan Singh saying, “When I met the prime minister, I explained that the attacks were not on him as an individual but on his government that was weak. Since he was heading the government, he became the symbol or embodiment of the government.”
“I, for one, have never made any personal attack on him. Or, for that matter, anyone in my entire political career,” asserted Singh.
