The fifth plenary session of Bharatiya Janata Party, which just concluded at Jaipur, underscored the party's new-found exuberance, propelling it to peg its goal to hitherto-to-unscaled electoral heights. The political thrust of the three-day deliberations was, primarily, to evolve a strategy to project the party as a viable national alternative at the next Lok Sabha elections.
Exuding confidence, the BJP leadership let its game-plan be known to the party cadre - to launch a political offensive against the Congress and the Communists, whom the party regards its main electoral adversaries and detractors, during the period preceding the next poll.
The Jaipur conclave distinctly indicated the party leadership's realisation that it would be rather indiscreet to put all its electoral eggs in the Ayodhya basket. On the opening day of the session itself, while the outgoing President, Mr. L.K. Advani, reaffirmed party's support to the Shri Ram temple issue, he asserted that Kashmir would be an equally emotive plank on the party's political agenda. To bring home this focal point, he made the significant announcement that the party would organise a massive march to Srinagar to unfurl the national flag on June 23, the martyrdom day of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, to reassert Kashmir's integration with the rest of the country.
Curiously enough, the party stalwart Atal Behari Vajpayee chose the venue of party's plenary session to make a candid admission that he did have reservations with regard to Mr. Advani launching his Rath yatra in September last as he wondered how far a political party could go on the Ayodhya issue.
Known for his candour and liberal perceptions, Mr. Vajpayee significantly added that the dilemma facing the party- as how far it should identify with cultural and religious issues still continued.
The BJP leadership appeared conscious that in order to achieve the party's objective to emerge as a viable national alternative, it must cast its electoral net wide enough to encompass all major socio-economic issues as well as allay the fear of the minorities. When a section of audience shouted 'Jo Hindu Hit Ki Bat Karega, Voh Desh Peh Raj Karega' (those who will safeguard the interests of the Hindus, will rule the country), Mr. Advani admonished them and stressed that the party has not to take care of only the interests of 82 per cent Hindus but 100 per cent of the country's population. Thereafter, the slogan was amended by replacing Hindu with Rashtra (nation).
While making it abundantly clear that there would be no dilution in the party's support to the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya, it was repeatedly emphasised during the deliberations that the campaign was not directed against any community and it would be patently wrong to project it as a Hindu versus Muslim issue...
The burden of the political resolution, adopted by the plenary session, was to assert the party's determination to provide the country with 'an alternative political culture' as distinct from the Congress culture...
Another highlight of the plenary session was the report submitted by the high-profile Working Group, suggesting ways and means to consolidate the electoral gains of 1989 and extending the party's influence to more regions, particularly to southern and north-eastern states.
Virtually ruling out any electoral alliance at the national level in the next Lok Sabha elections, the Working Group, with party vice-president Mr. Sunder Singh Bhandari as its convenor, suggested that the party might go in for local and regional adjustments if it helped to improve its overall performance at the hustings. Significantly, it recommended that the party should contest nearly 500 seats in the next Lok Sabha elections so as to emerge as 'the first party of the land'.
The visibly upbeat mood pervading the plenary session was summed up by the party stalwart's A.B. Vajpayee in the valedictory address calling upon partymen to ensure that 'the current wind blowing in favour of BJP turns into a hurricane' by the time next Lok Sabha elections are held.
