The BJP, which is the inheritor of the legacy of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, owes its birth to the idea of nationalism. This is the core of our ideology; for us India is one nation, one people and one culture.

Notwithstanding diversities such as region, religion, caste and language, India had evolved a common way of life rooted in a shared cultural heritage.

It is this common way of life which is unique to India that we call Hindutva or cultural nationalism. You could call it by any other name - Indianness or Bharatiyata, but the core remains the same ... Hindutva by definition was an all-inclusive concept and was in perfect harmony with the true meaning of secularism. It means justice for all citizens. And it is this inherent strength of Hindutva that has helped check the vote-bank politics of the pseudo- secularists. As a matter of fact, all organisations inspired by the RSS are free to take their own decisions. This is because the very idea of centralised control is non-Hindu.

Wherever the party was in power, it had ensured the security and dignity of the minority communities. Now that the BJP leads the Central Government, we will further prove our detractors wrong. In this general election, Muslims have voted for us in large numbers, defying the allurements and grim prognostics of our opponents. I have no doubt that more and more members of the minority communities will opt for us and free themselves from the practitioners of vote bank politics.

India needed to be firm with Pakistan which was responsible for fomenting terrorism in J&K by sending foreign mercenaries and arms across the border.

Good relations between India and Pakistan will be possible only when the latter reciprocates by discontinuing the policy of fomenting violence in India that it has been pursuing all these years. The situation brooks no further delay in bringing Pakistan to heel.

The BJP Government would be able to check ISI  activities and identity the culprits and make facts public.

What had further aggravated the internal security scenario was continuing large scale illegal infiltration across the eastern border.

Apart from creating economic and social tensions in the north-eastern States. West Bengal and Bihar, unchecked infiltration also poses a severe internal security problem to underestimate it would be to court disaster.                                                           (Source: The Hindu, 4 May, 1998)

BJP President Thakre's Views

India is a multi-religious country. In the name of freedom of expression and art, nobody has the right to denigrate any community's religious feelings. It doesn't matter which religion. Sita is our mother. Can one paint Sita like that? Or Prophet Mohammed or Jesus Christ?

BJP: National Council Resolution Gandhinagar, 4 May, 1998 (Extracts)

The BJP today is the principal and stable pole of Indian politics. The Congress is the other pole ... In the new Indian political order, alignments can only take place around these two poles. As of today, most of the regional parties are with us as our allies in government or as supporters. We resolve to further expand and consolidate this alliance ...

The litmus test of any civil society is whether it is free of discrimination in any form. India has so far failed to pass this litmus test. But we can take our society closer to the cherished goal of equality and fraternity; we can help and discriminations that still exist - be it caste discrimination, gender discrimination or class discrimination. The National Council urges the Government to move rapidly in this direction ...

We appreciate the Government's decision to rename the Welfare Ministry as Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment ... Empowerment of the deprived and weaker sections of society, especially the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes and women, is one of the goals we have set for ourselves ...

The very fact that a large number of Indians belonging to the minority communities have voted for us in the recent election indicates our "success in convincing them of what we believe is positive secularism. It also marks the defeat of pseudo-secularists whose fear campaign has begun to yield diminishing returns ...

The National Council appeals to the minority communities to take a decisive step and break free of the clutches of peddlers of vote-bank politics and join hands with the BJP. Their future lies in the new India we all aspire for, not in the morass of minority-majority politics or appeasement that may benefit regressive elements but deprives them of progress and justice.

We call upon party ... to create public awareness about ... India's population explosion (which) is a national issue ...

.... A comprehensive review of certain sections of the Constitution, without in any way altering its basic structure, is overdue ...

Ours has been a mission to re-establish nationalism as the guiding beacon for every activity in  public life ... We resolve to continue our struggle till such time every Indian finds his and her rightful place in an egalitarian society and India finds her rightful place in the comity of nations.