Click to play videoBangalore: Old Hindutva and a search for new political allies were on top of BJP leaders’ minds at the start of the party’s national executive in Bangalore on Friday.
With a clear eye on this winter's state elections and general elections next year, the party has decided to use the Amarnath land row in Jammu and Kashmir to the maximum.
“The pilgrimage (Amarnath Yatra) symbolises national integration. That is why I consider this yatra to be of national importance," said party president Rajnath Singh. "It is in this context that I am demanding that the Central government nationalise the road of the Amarnath Yatra so that in future no attempt is made to disturb the social harmony for political reasons."
Singh's speech fell back on the old saffron demand of abrogation of Article 370, a law which gives special status to Kashmir. He accused the Congress of giving in to separatists in Kashmir and demanded a rehabilitation package for Kashmiri Pandits.
Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad didn’t spell out what the party meant by “nationalisation” of the Amarnath yatra route. “Singh has made a proposal, its ramifications have yet to be thought out,” Prasad said.
Hindutva alone cannot win elections, so the three-day national executive in Bangalore is giving equal importance to the issue of finding new allies. The BJP is desperate to broker a deal with AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha. It is the party's only hope of a possible alliance in the South. The party distanced itself from DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, as there is little chance of them agreeing on the Sethusamudaram project.
“Some of his (Karunanidhi's) utterances on Ram Sethu has created a fundamental divide between BJP and DMK," said Prasad.
Interestingly, this executive is not just about strategizing elections. The talking point is the party's return to a five star culture. After four long years, the venue of a BJP national executive is a five star hotel and that too one of the finest in Bangalore.
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