BJP has already cashed Hindutva cheque
By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: Bharatiya Jan Shakti, (BJS), president Ms Uma Bharti has said that Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), has gone down in the eyes of the people which has ignored the principles of character and honesty and indulged into corruption unhesitatingly, thereby making its claim of a party with a difference sound hollow to the core.
Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ programme here organised by Central Press Club, Ms Bharti described BJP as a “party of hypocrites”. The BJP has already cashed the Hindutva cheque and is doomed to be part of history, she added.
Coming down heavily on BJP Ms Bharti charged it has used, misused, abused and now dumped the concepts of ‘Swadeshi’, ‘Shuchita’, ‘Suraj’ and Hindutva. It has become a party of conspirators and can go to any length to harass, betray, belittle leaders and workers which have roots in the masses, she stressed.
She pointed out that besides herself, several leaders including Kalyan Singh, Govindacharya, Babulal Marandi, Tapan Sikdar and Madanlal Khurana had been sidelined by the BJP. Even senior BJP leader Surinder Singh Bhandari in the last three years before his death was ignored and humiliated. He was much a saddened man before his death, she alleged.
When a newsman drew her attention to frequent rumours about her return to the BJP fold, Ms Bharti said that those who indulge in such wishful thinking are living in a “fool’s paradise”. She said none of the BJP leaders have the courage to withstand her after conspiring against her and maltreating her in most despisable manner as possible.
“Under such circumstances, return to the BJP is out of question. My doors for the BJP are closed”, she declared.
Ms Bharti claimed that she had lifted the BJP when it was in a state of trauma following the December 6, 1992 incident of demolition of Babri Masjid which led to the downfall of BJP Governments in many states including Uttar Pradesh. However, when BJP was catapulted to power at the Centre in 1996 for 13-day rule and again in 1999 the party ascended to full-fledged rule. Thereafter, the party took a U-turn compromising for the sake of power and gave a go bye to the values and principles for which it stood and put it on the back-burner.
She said all this happened under the watchful eyes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani who did not pay heed and lost direct contact with the party workers while some second rung leaders ruled the roost. These second rung leaders who galloped close to the powers that be indulging in the art of flattery elbowed out or overshadowed the true committed leaders and workers wedded to the BJP and RSS philosophy. They followed the well-known adage “make hay while the sun shines” which proved detrimental and BJP ultimately lost power at the Centre, she added.
Similarly, Ms Bharti said that she had propelled BJP to power in Madhya Pradesh but circumstances were created by vested interests in the party and I was finally expelled from the party. And today BJP in Madhya Pradesh is in a very bad shape though the party is in power in the state.
A number of scams have erupted in the government so much so that the Congress should take training from this BJP Government in the art of committing corruption and still look holier than Thou, she remarked.
Replying to a question Ms Bharti said the present Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a “dummy” of a coterie in the BJP High Command. He is helpless to the ongoing “loot” being indulged by his ministerial colleagues. However, Chouhan could have stopped his wife and brother from indulging in such acts of becoming wealthy over night, she said.
Ms Bharti told a questioner that senior BJP leaders were responsible for strengthening the Congress. She recalled that once Advani had put forward the proposal to the Congress to form a coalition government with it at the Centre.
Answering a query Ms Bharti asserted that Lok Sabha mid-term elections would be a certainty if the UPA government faced true opposition from Left parties over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
She alleged that opposition from Left parties, which were extending outside support to the UPA Government, was an eyewash. “It is shadow fighting and nothing else”, she quipped. ([email protected])