Even if new BJP president, meant what he said about Muslim ... party leaders, if they are honest with themselves, will admit that it is going to be an uphill task to change the attitude of not only its karyakartas but also its netas.

The fact is that the large majority of BJP members see Muslims as pro-Pakistan and potential ISI recruits, and privately they say this. The Kashmir problem is also seen by the BJP as essentially a Muslim issue ..

In all its 20 years the BJP never made any sincere efforts to attract the Muslims. In fact, the calculation was that Muslims voting for a non-BJP candidate in any constituency would help consolidation of the Hindu vote in its favour.

.. Perhaps, the BJP has realised that if it ever wants to come to power on its own, it will have to get the votes of the minorities who constitute about 20 per cent of the population. In the numbers game of electoral politics, no party can afford to begin with a minus-20 mark ...

Laxman himself has been swinging from an almost anti-Hindutva stance to a pro-Hindutva attitude. On his way to Nagpur he said the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation never played a major role in boosting the party's growth, that in fact numerous other people's struggles taken up by the party had paid electoral dividends. He also said that people were no longer attracted by the party's Hindutva ideology ... And now in the latest issue of the RSS mouthpiece, Panchjanya, he has asserted that "There is no question of giving up Hindutva. After all, I am inside a Hindutva party. I have never said that we are giving up our core ideology".

What is clear is that the party has kept its options open. For now ... the party stands committed to its NDA agenda. But it is certainly not giving up on its core Hindutva ideology. The emphasis has changed "for now" ...

Laxman has been stressing that the BJP never was a "one issue party", but the fact is that between 1990 and 1996 the party had almost given up every issue but the three core Hindutva ones. Its politics centred around attacking "pseudo-secularism" and what it called "appeasement of the minorities" without bothering about the fact that let alone being pampered the Muslims had fallen behind both in literacy and employment ... If the old mantra was Hindutva, the new virtue is flexibility, a euphemism for being practical to suit the new political climate.

A major concern for the party is not to allow its old ideological moorings to come in the way of forging and consolidating ties with allies. For this, it has to keep Hindutva in check ...

... Having made Laxman its first Dalit president, the BJP is keen to take advantage of this and draw larger support from the weaker sections.

Ironically, the Nagpur session saw all senior party leaders pay homage at the "Deekshabhoomi" of. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, where he embraced Buddhism ... The BJP ... was proud to be seen praising Dr. Ambedkar's act of denouncing Hinduism. The party wanted to declare that it did not believe in Manuwadi Hindutva ...

At Nagpur the party travelled a little further down the road it had taken in Bangalore and Chennai, and which has been clearly mapped out by the Vajpayee Government. Neither RSS criticism nor scepticism in the party were to be allowed to come in the way. But, the option to go aggressively back to Hindutva has not been given up ...

Re-inventing the BJP - Editorial, Times of India, 30 August, 2000

... The BJP is ... India's only 'ideas' party; it is a party where ideologues are employed full-time to craft electoral strategies and think up socio-philosophic formulations. The BJP invented the term 'social engineering' to at once get rid of the upper caste image it was burdened with and to widen its base. Social engineering fused together the party's backbone of upper castes with the more socially backward castes, and with spectacular effect, especially in the politically crucial UP.  With the exit of Kalyan Singh, that experiment has lost much of its sheen. Another area of concern for the party has been its anti-minorities image. The BJP's first overtures in this respect were made some years back in Goa at a meeting of its national executive; it has since followed this up with periodic promises made in its party manifesto as well as in other forums. But evidently not with much success, as is apparent from party president B.Laxman's renewed call from Nagpur ... What is behind the BJP's current call? Is it an image building exercise by a party that is now in office, and must therefore demonstrate a social conscience? Is it an electoral strategy? Or is it a genuine attempt at course correction?

It is a mix of all, judging by the imperatives before the party. The BJP is now at the head of a coalition, where no single ideology can prevail. The move is also an electoral compulsion. Today, the BJP has reached a plateau both in terms of the seats won and the votes polled. It needs to expand its base - whether in order to go it alone in future elections or to get into a coalitional arrangement. In UP, ... an electoral rout. An alliance with the BSP would most certainly give it a winning base, but Mayawati will agree to it only if the BJP publicly adopts a minority-friendly face ... BJP has a single USP and that is Vajpayee. Without him it is nothing. In other words, the BJP must evolve a long-term vision - for itself and the country ... The Muslims are important not because they are a vote bank, but because they are vital for the idea of India ... If the BJP is to emerge as the Grand New Party, it must do so not by turning into a replica of the Grand Old Party but by re-inventing itself totally.

Neerja Chowdhury on Calculated Attempt to Win Over Liberal Hindus

The BJP's overture to Muslims at Nagpur is a calculated attempt to win over the liberal Hindus and not so much the minorities. In the game of realpolitik, the party is trying to broaden its appeal because of electoral compulsions and with an eye on coalition politics. In the process, the party's own character may be undergoing a change which may turn out to be more than tactical.

The BJP has UP on its mind where elections are due next year and where its popularity has taken a sharp plunge. The polls in that state can be advanced after the formation of Uttaranchal on November 1. Traditionally the liberal Hindus have not been hardcore supporters of the BJP but voted for it in large numbers in 1998 and 1999 because of its liberal face -Atal Behari Vajpayee. The party's nationalistic approach on several issues had enhanced its appeal for them. But its attitude towards the minorities has made them uneasy. It would be naïve to believe that the party expects the Muslims to support it. After the concerted attacks on Christians and their churches in the past two years, the Muslims can hardly be expected to take Bangaru Laxman's invitation at its face value. He is, in fact, appealing to the liberal Hindus.

The party had lost no time in putting its Hindutva agenda on the backburner when it formed a coalition government in 1998. In Nagpur it took one more step away from Ram in its attempt to fill the space once occupied by the Congress which shows no sign of getting rejuvenated. This was Vajpayee's goal that has now been adopted by Advani, Laxman and others. Advani's words delinking governance from ideology show which way the wind is blowing.

The BJP has already hijacked the Congress economic agenda. While that party is agonizing over whether Manmohanomics led to its defeat or not, with Manmohan Singh himself in the doghouse, the BJP has shown more resolve in brushing aside reservations and plunging headlong into the second generation of reforms.

On the social front also, the party has undone the Supreme Court verdict on relaxing marks fro the Dalits.in promotions with the help of a Constitutional amendment, while the Congress has not yet been able to even set up a cell in the AICC on the OBCs, simply because it has not been able to take a position on whether to go in for reservations for them in educational institutions for not. Unlike the Congress, the BJP has come to terms with the reality of coalitions in India.

It knows it will have to deal with regional parties as its allies for sometime and has to take into account their sensibilities on minorities. Soon after taking over as party chief, Bangaru Laxman had distanced the party from the RSS agenda, asking its members not to be apologetic about temporarily falling silent on issues like Article 370, a uniform civil code and Ayodhya. He had made it clear that the party would not brook criticism from within the Parivar beyond a point.

With polls in five States due next year, Nagpur has been an attempt to brew an electoral potion which is a mix of liberal rhetoric about minorities and a nationalistic fervour created through Pakistan-bashing. (Source: The Indian Express, 30 August, 2000)

BJP: President New, Double-Speak Old

Editorial, The People's Democracy, 3 September, 2000

The BJP has completed yet another exercise in perfidy and double-speak ... This is merely a tactical ploy to seek to make the BJP more acceptable not so much to the minorities but to the liberal and secular elements within the majority ..

Further, there was total silence about the insidious anti-minority bashing that continues to be perpetrated by other tentacles of the RSS octopus. Clearly, the BJP is seeking to fool the people once again while at its core-remains the effort to establish the RSS concept of a rabidly intolerant 'Hindu Rashtra' ... The people are going to judge the BP on the basis of its policies and work on the ground ... The BJP continues to be a strident communal party pre-occupied with perpetuating the caste inequalities under upper caste domination ..

BJP National Meet - Editorial, The New Age

There is nothing new in the proposal. After breaking from Janata Party on the issue of dual membership in 1980, Atal Behari Vajpayee as first President of BJP ... has advocated almost the same line and had even suggested opening of doors of RSS for.  Muslims. But soon the same Vajpayee declared that "RSS is my soul" and supported all that ghastly doings of the Sangh Parivar which we have witnessed during the last decade and which culminated in demolition of the Babari Masjid at Ayodhya ... This single event has affected the psyche of Indian Muslims most adversely.

... Bangaru Laxman did not have a single word of regret over this bestiality of his followers. Nobody expected him either to apologise or promise reconstruction of Babari Masjid at the place where it stood till December 6, 1992. If he was ... sincere, he could at least have promised that BJP and its allied organisations including the head of the Parivar, RSS, will abide by the court verdict on the disputed land in Ayodhya ... Overwhelming majority of the country's population is opposed to its concept of Hindutva. That is real strength of secular forces. The task now is to mobilize and move this force to beat back the fascistic offensive of the BJP led government carried and patronized by the Sangh Parivar.