Liberals cite the example endlessly to convince themselves that Vajpayee is a cut above the RSS Pariyar ... When his secular instinct asserts itself, (Vajpayee) is heart- warming. But when Hindu nationalism overtakes him, he is disappointing. What is his actual persona? Is he a person who is trying to de-saffronise the BJP? Or, is he creating a loi of dust to mislead the intelligentsia? Is he a Dr Jekyll or a Mr Hyde?

His speeches in the US were aimed at placating the hardliners in India and abroad ... RSS ideologue K.N. Govindacharya, who has been edged out of office of the BIP secretary-general, says that Vajpayee is only a mukut (mask). If and when the chips are down, he will be on their side. So is their belief.

Yet. it is difficult to come to such a harsh conclusion because, when L.K. Advani led the Rath Yatra through the northern India, Vajpayee made it a point to leave the country ... Asked why he had not gone to Ayodhya with Advani, he said that those who were Ram bhakts had gone to Ayodhya but those who were desh bhakts had gone abroad. He was conscious of his liberal image and wanted to protect it.

Maybe, the two opposite pulls are tearing him apart. It seems he is trying to ride two horses at the same time. When he went to Nagpur to install Laxman, he also visited the RSS headquarters and paid homage to Golwalkar ...True, he does not wear the RSS badge on his sleeves. But he is also careful to convey that he is not distant from it ...

In matters of ideology, as in leadership, persons have to be unequivocal. Vajpayee lets both the images persist. One pleases one set of people and the other another ... He should realise that communalism and secularism are two contradictory ideologies.

... His liberal pronouncements go down well is the centrist sentiments he seeks to strengthen. They represent India's ethos. Till Indira Gandhi came to power, the centrist or grey area was occupied by the Congress party. At times. it appears as if Vajpayee wants the BJP to occupy that territory, which is neither black nor white but reflects pluralism. He must be having that in mind.

In reply to a question on the mandir, he says that he must get a two-thirds majority to build the India of his dreams ... One explanation ... given to me is that the extremists in India can create such a storm over the Hindutva that only a half-way strategy can stall it. He has lus own ways to tame the shrew. It is not a secret that the BJP fundamentalists have not been happy with Vajpayee for some time. They would like to pull him down and they are at il ...

In the face of the saffron crowd trying to deface India, Vajpayee needs the support of the liberal lobby the most. Why is he trying to alterate it through his pro-Hindutva remarks? He is not an ideal person for the liberals. But he is the most acceptable ... They have no alternative to him at present because the political situation in the country is developing in such a way that Congress president Sonia Gandhi is not emerging as a rival ...

The initiative Vajpayee has taken by having Laxman to retrieve the ground, which the prime minister had lost in his bid to placate the hard-liners, is welcome. But this is not enough. He has to save so many fields from getting Hinduised. His priority should be education, which is being saffronise by Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi with a vengeance ...

The effort Vajpayee has launched to help the BJP cast off its anti-Muslim bias cannot go far if the party remains a member of the RSS Parivar. He should not only distance himself from the RSS but should be seen to be doing so ...

He should cut off his Parivar connections completely. The image Vajpayee enjoys, particularly after his visit to the US, should help him to join issue with the extremists in the BJP and the RSS. But will he do so? Seldom has he been decisive... (Source: The Indian Express, 26 September, 2000)

On PM Vajpayee's Participation in VHP Event in New York

CPI(M) Politbureau's Statement, 11 Sept., 2000

... A.B. Vajpayee's attendance at the VHP-sponsored meeting at New York and his speech there has once again revealed the real agenda of the BJP. It has also exposed the hypocrisy of the BJP leadership ... The remarks of Vajpayee cannot be brushed away by the non-BJP partners in the NDA. They are dispensable as and when the BJP is in a position to assert itself.

... The way the VHP has been promoted by the BJP-led government ... and the endorsement of its communal platform by the prime minister, is a matter of serious concern for all democratic minded citizens. Source: The People's Democracy, 17 September. 2000)

 CPI Central Secretariat,11 Sept., 2000

The Central Secretariat ... strongly deplores the pronouncements of Prime Minister Vajpayee during his stay in New York, completely identifying himself with the positions of RSS, VHP and the other outfit of Sangh Parivar.

... Vajpayee is in USA as Prime Minister of the country on an official visit, not as a Swayamseyak. His pronouncement is exactly echoing the Hindutva philosophy which goes against the secular-democratic character of our state and the Constitution.

... The country owes an explanation from other allies of NDA. (Source: The New Age)

INC: Salman Khurshid's Views

The axing of three Muslim PCC presidents – Sarfaraz Ahmed in Bihar, A.B. Ghani Khan Chowdhury in West Bengal, (me) in UP - and party treasurer Ahmed Patel ... is a perplexing coincidence. But individually taken, there is no commonality of approach.

.But having said that, the message to the common Muslims is that justice is not being done. That is unfortunate, because in politics, public perception is crucial ... The BJP .... message is different from the Congress: Earlier, they used the same idiom to exclude.

We did it to include the Muslims. Now strategically, they are trying to include Muslims, but we are doing so emotionally and conceptually. (Source: The Times of India, 30 September, 2000)

New Moves; Old Games - Editorial, The Times of India, 4 Oct., 2000

... So far Prime Minister Vajpayee has had a relatively trouble-free run in his second innings, with much of the demands at home being overshadowed by the euphoria of India-US relations and accomplishments abroad. But with the oil crisis looming large, economic uncertainties have been compounded by the political ground too turning slippery. It is not just the M-bomb of the Trinamul Congress ... the biggest blow has been the BJP's stunning rout in the civic polls in Gujarat, the only state where it is in office on its own ... Uttar Pradesh, the remarkable showing of the Samajwadi Party can only further unsettle the BJP as it gears up for assembly elections.

In sharp contrast, the fortunes of the Congress appear  to be taking a turn for the better ... The Congress can derive further satisfaction from the fact that the Trinamul-BJP tussle could be taken as a cue by other coalition partners to flex their muscles and demand their pound of flesh. In Tamil Nadu, where too elections are only months away, the BJP's partners are uneasy with the DMK's captaincy of the NDA in the state ... Chandrababu Naidu is bristling that the BJP has four of its own ministers from Andhra Pradesh. How the BJP copes with these multiple pressures while the Congress strives to capitalise on them will have a bearing beyond the health of these two.

On Rise of Communal Forces

... During the last poll, many people said there were no issues in the campaign. But that was wrong. A very big issue on which the country could have been stirred was to prevent communal forces from  coming to power. That should have been the battle cry. Was that battle really fought, with that intensity and commitment? I do not know.

- Saifuddin Chowdhury, ex-MP (CPM)

BJP Routed in Gujarat Local Elections

Editorial, The Statesman, 6 October, 2000

... A year ago the BJP got 53 per cent votes in Gujarat in the Lok Sabha elections. Now the Congress, a party. which has been in tatters for the last decade ... has swept. the local elections in the BJP's citadel. Gujarat is the only state where the BJP has a government without allies and a two-thirds majority to boot. It also has the largest VHP base, prime picking for the Bajrang Dal. For them to lose control of all but one of the 23 district councils and also Rajkot municipality, the home of chief minister Keshubhai Patel which it controlled for the last 25 years, is shocking ..

Hardliners insist that the verdict reflects the people's disillusionment with the government's soft line on Hindutva, particularly appeasing minorities and endangering the Hindu vote bank ... (This) cannot be the only reason. Chief Minister Patel's term has not been a particularly inspiring one ... The anti-establishment vote has proven that rhetoric may be fine opposition, once in power, people want action, and slogans are no substitute.

Caste has also played a role. The BJP's rise to power owed a great deal to Vagehela and Modi's wooing of Other Backward Class, a numerically important caste, for the BJP. With Vagehela now in the Congress and Modi shifted to Delhi, the backwards may feel neglected. This has been compounded with the upper castes reasserting themselves in the state organisation, holding all important posts ...

Wages of Lethargy Editorial, The Asian Age, 5 Oct., 2000

The two key states which were instrumental in turning the national politics tide in favour of the Hindutva brigade ... - Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, seem to be now very angry with the way of the Bharatiya Janata Party has performed there ... In Gujarat, the BJP has received a resounding defeat ... in the ... polls to local bodies, while in UP ...

the BJP is on a steady downhill curve ... The BJP central leadership will ignore the message from Gandhinagar only at its own peril; and as far as Lucknow is concerned, a strange lack of decisiveness has completely governed the party's response ... The Congress might be in no position yet to capitalise on the BJP's mid-life crisis ... The next wake up call could come when the clutch of crucial states go to the polls early next years, and that may well be a rude one ...