BJP president Rajnath Singh comes unplugged on Hindus and tolerance, youth leadership, poll chances
BJP president Rajnath Singh comes unplugged on Hindus and tolerance, youth leadership, poll chances
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Speaking his mind: BJP President Rajnath Singhu00a0file photo |
WHEN you meet Rajnath Singh, you sense another man hidden inside the man. Familiar mannerisms the invisible 9s drawn in the air with fingers, the slow rotating wrists, the long pause wherein you are confused whether to shoot the next question or wait. It is as if the shadow of an older man is playing in the younger.
The BJP President, perhaps unknowingly, has imbibed the rhythm of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
But then, expect the unexpected. Like this one on the recent attack on Mangalore pub-goers.
"Sangh was not behind the attack. Let me tell you, and this will surely come out in public, there was a foreign hand in it. You might disbelieve me now. There is an elaborate international conspiracy going on to spoil an Indian nationalist party," he said. "Not Pakistan. These are expansionist forces, pushing their religious agenda worldwide."
He said he had called the Karnataka CM and asked him to take strict action against the attackers. "However, I personally do not support the pub culture, because I see people crossing a certain line of decency," he said. "But I don't support the violence. If you want to bring social change, you will have to do it by persuading people, making them aware."
He then goes on to explain the Hindutva on the plank of which his party will go to another election.
"Yath pinde, thath brahmande (whatever is in the matter, is in the universe); what is in the root is in the consciousness; what is in a needle is in the larger whole; whatever is in me is in you," he said. "So, Hindus respect difference. We have never believed in violence. In fact, on Nag Panchami, we feed the poisonous snake whose bite can kill us instantly pure cow's milk and pray for its longevity."
Although he opposed mass conversions, he said "there should be an appropriate competent authority to monitor conversions".
About next Chief Election Commissioner being accused of being partisan to Congress, he said: "We raised the issue so that public faith in constitutional institutions does not erode. Now, the government has to decide whether it wants to uphold the dignity and sanctity of the Constitution."
The 57-year-old also laid down what he called fundamental differences between young leadership in the Congress and the BJP.
"In the Congress, only children of big leaders are considered young leaders. In BJP, the youth come from bylanes and crop fields, but media attention never falls on them," he said.
He also reiterated LK Advani's primacy in the scheme of things.
"Who can be a fitter candidate than Advaniji? Show me one instance where two people [Vajpayee and Advani] have been in politics together for 52 years," he said. "You take others along only if you are broadminded. This country should not be ruled by narrow-minded people."
About the party's weaknesses ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, he sounded clear: "There has been a perceptional change because of the Delhi debacle. But that's not the reality. Nobody defeated us in Delhi. We defeated ourselves. That would not be repeated."
