Advani recasts Hindutva,says change is good

“It is said that the Sangh is changing and that it has to change further. It is a sign of their evolution. That which doesn’t change is not living,it is dead,” Advani said,quoting Deoras’s 1980 Vijayadashami speech and,in the process,also sending a subtle message to assembled delegates.

Emphasising the BJP’s RSS roots,Advani said: “How can a people believing in the dictum ekam sat vipra bahuda vadanti (truth is one,sages call it variously) ever become champions of a state which would uphold the interests of one religion at the cost of others?” The BJP’s Hindutva,he said,“was in accordance with the 1995 Supreme Court view that described it ‘a way of life’”.

Party president Rajnath Singh reiterated that “the BJP couldn’t be expected to snap its umbilical chord with the RSS”.

Seeking to put the lid on the debate on Varun Gandhi’s Pilibhit speech,Advani warned against “any narrow or bigoted anti-Muslim interpretation of Hindutva”. He made a mention of “two eminent Muslim colleagues” (Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz Hussain) who had raised the issue at the BJP office bearers’ meet a couple of days ago. The party had taken an ambivalent stand till then,and it was during that meeting that Advani said that “he had asked party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad to disown Varun’s statements”.

Advani’s bid to refashion Hindutva found support from state BJP leaders. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said “Muslim women,at times much against the wishes of their husbands,voted for (me) because benefits of development reached every section of society.” Therefore,said Chouhan,“Muslims must not go off the party’s radar”.

BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde — whose aide Pasha Patel is a leading advocate of the Sachar Committee recommendations in Maharashtra — said that “the party must reach out to Muslims even if they don’t vote for it”.

Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi,too,spoke on similar lines.

After party president Rajnath Singh’s description of the BJP as a “right-wing entity” yesterday,both Advani and the party’s political resolution chose today to call the BJP a “nationalist organisation”.

There was some confusion on ideological issues elsewhere,too. Members from the South expressed surprise at the political resolution seemingly equating ‘Hindutva’ with ‘Hinduism’ (“Hinduism or Hindutva is not to be understood or construed narrowly…” read a sentence in the resolution). Tamil Nadu leader L Ganesan wanted the “Hinduism-Hindutva” distinction to be made clearer.

The resolution said: “Theocracy or any form of bigotry is alien to our ethos. Hindutva is a profound concept which is the real inspiration for a resurgent India with which the BJP is proud to be associated¿. We need to draw inspiration from our profound civilisational,cultural and spiritual heritage,address the issues of the present with transparent commitment and good governance,and lay the foundation of a very strong and resurgent future.”

It added,“giving equal treatment to all regardless of their personal faith is integral to Hindutva”.