Pakistan, under the present military regime, continues to promote cross-border terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of India. Indeed, the military regime in Islamabad has displayed increasing belligerence and made no effort to hide the fact that Pakistan has adopted cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy ...

There has been increasing international condemnation of Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism, fuelled by mounting religious extremism in that country. This cross-border terrorism threatens peace and stability in the region and beyond and, therefore, calls for concerted international action also. In this context, we urge the early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention Against Terrorism and call upon the Government to pursue it vigorously at the coming UN General Assembly session.

... We urge all political parties to take a balanced and considered view of the proposed anti-terrorism law, rather than reject it on the basis of unfounded apprehensions and partisan politics..

The National Council calls upon the Government to take all possible steps to ensure the security of life and property of every, citizen of India ...

A clear message needs to be sent to terrorists and their masters across the border that every Indian's life is precious and will be defended and that indulging in cross-border terrorism cannot continue to remain a cost-free option.

At the same time, the Government should not hesitate to talk to those Indians who are willing to give up violence and sit across the table ... We resolve to strengthen the Government's hand in both its campaign against terrorism as well as in its peace initiatives ... The rejection of the Autonomy Report of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is a step in the right direction. The BJP is fully committed to Jammu and Kashmir being integral part of India and to the defence of National sovereignty.

To checks the problem of infiltration and illegal immigration ... the Passport Act is being amended. This is a step in the right direction. We urge Government to take up a time-bound programme of issuing multi-purpose photo identity card to all citizens and create a centralized database that can ultimately serve as a National Register of Citizens.

Despite a concerted effort by Pakistan's ISI working through anti-national agencies ... communal peace has remained largely undisturbed ... While committed to the protection of all sections of the people, the National Council urges the people to beware of divisive forces that are trying to disrupt communal harmony to malign the BJP and the NDA Government ...

We deplore the Congress' demand for a judicial inquiry into the massacres by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

... The adoption of National Population Policy, 2000 and the setting of the National Commission on Population as well as a National Population Stabilization Fund are steps in the right direction to tackle the problem of runaway population growth ..

... The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes never got the full benefit of reservation in jobs because no clearance of backlog could be done beyond the 50 per cent ceiling imposed by the Supreme Court. The benefits of reservation were also denied because of certain stiff eligibility conditions. The Constitution has now been amended to provide for waiving of this restrictions and for reservations in promotions.

... The National Council calls upon the Union the State Governments to take time-bound steps to clear the backlog ...

We urge Government to expedite the Lokpal Bill and call upon all political parties to arrive at a consensus on the Women's Reservation Bill ... Simultaneously, comprehensive electoral reforms and constituency delimitation, without affecting the number of constituencies, need to be expedited. ... There is an urgent need to repeal IMDT Act in Assam ....

 Continuing the Change Editorial, Hindustan Times, 4 Sept., 2000

... Vajpayee ... is trying to make the BJP acquire a kinder, gentler face. As much is clear from what the new party, president ... has said about the organisation's attitude towards Muslims. Arguably, it is a tactical ploy guided by electoral considerations.

It is also clear that far weightier evidence of the BJP's change of heart will be needed before its decades-old anti-minority image can be changed. But the point nevertheless is that even the half-hearted, and perhaps even insincere, gesture might not have been made unless an acknowledged moderate like Vajpayee was at the helm.

 BJP: Secretary Mukhtar Naqvi's Views

... When I joined the BJP in 1984 ... I liked most about the party was the unequivocal approach of its leadership towards the Muslims. They were not hypocritical like the so-called secular parties.

In the BJP's programme and ideology there is nothing anti-Muslim or chauvinist; it is a nationalist party. So the Muslims fit in there very well ..

It is important for the Muslims to have their religious rights protected. But these are not the only issues, they can wait. It is often said that the Muslims' problems are Babari Masjid, Urdu, personal law and Article 370. but to my mind these are not their real problems. Their basic problems are education, unemployment, equality and security - the four Ss in Hindi - siksha, suraksha; samman and samriddhi or education, security, respect and prosperity. Fed on the wrong rhetoric the Muslims have lagged behind and could not be part of the mainstream for half a century.

The so-called secular parties have deliberately misled Muslims ... Muslims are a major part of Indian life and they cannot be ignored. So the BJP felt a new initiative is required. The situation is changing. The BJP is picking up seats from Muslim dominated areas ...

The RSS has never been anti-Muslim. Hindutva cannot be equated with religion ... The BJP formulates its own policy and it has no bias against the Muslims ... RSS Chief and General Secretary ... have a very clear view that Muslims should get full honour and protection of their religious rights.

We fcel that the fear of being reduced to second-class citizens has to be removed. But it is equally important to keep in mind that ... foreign invaders and outsiders cannot be our ideals. So there is no harm if Mughalsarai gives way to Deendayal Nagar ...

Urdu is an Indian language ... When it was the court language every community learnt it ... Now the situation has changed. Go to a Muslim area and you will see children learning Hindi and English ..

There is a rethinking in the Muslim community on this issue. Majority of Muslims are convinced that the BJP should be given a chance, that they should trust it, even if experimentally on the basis of the performance of the Vajpayee Government ...

(Source: The Times of India, 8 September, 2000)

AIMMM Statement, 1 September, 2000

Muslims Wait for Concrete Evidence of Change of Heart

"The AIMMM has noted the advice of the newly elected President of the BJP Shri Bangaru Laxman, in his Presidential Address at Nagpur to his party workers to reach out to the Muslim community in order to broaden its electoral base.

Such declarations are a part of the democratic process.  Any political party, particularly, one which sees itself as a national party and as 'the natural party of governance' and which heads a coalition Government at the Centre should naturally desire to have at least a part of the votes of the Muslim community, the second largest community in the country with a pan-Indian spread, in order to secure a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha on its own and improve its performance at the State level.

However, since its first incarnation as Jan Sangh, the BJP has not only ignored the legitimate grievances of the Muslim community but adopted a hostile and adversarial attitude towards Muslims. As a result, the Muslim community, which may be feeling unhappy today with all political parties, has demonstratively rejected the BJP, as a party, which is anti-secular, anti-minority and anti-Muslim.

Given the commitment of the BJP to the divisive and exclusivist ideology of Hindutva, its espousal of Hindu Rashtravad and Cultural Nationalism, its close nexus with the RSS and other members of the Sangh Parivar and its own track record, particularly in the last 2 decades, on all matters of concern to the Muslim community, it would need more than expressions of sympathy and goodwill for the BJP to be taken seriously by the community. as a possible custodian of its legitimate rights and interests and for the fulfillment of its aspirations and hopes.

Unless and until the BJP changes its traditional mindset, substitutes Hindutva by Bharatiyata, recognises the rights of the Muslim Indians as equal citizens and of the Muslim Community, as a community and takes concrete steps to respect them and assures them Dignity, Equality and Justice, the Muslim Community is not likely to take Mr. Laxman's words seriously.

Till then his words are likely to be interpreted as nothing more than an electoral rhetoric or a political gesture to divide Muslim votes and detach them from the secular parties and also to attract the votes of secular and liberal Hindus.

However, the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat advises the community that instead of summarily rejecting the gesture, it should wait for some concrete evidence of a real change in the attitude of the BJP and some concrete and constructive response to the Muslim situation by the Governments at the Centre and the States governed by the BJP and its allies.