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Teluguvaadu Junior Artist Username: Teluguvaadu Post Number: 408 Registered: 11-2012 Posted From: 117.195.253.204 Rating: |
The current mellow, accommodative outlook of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in striking contrast to the provocative anti-minority postures of the 1990s, is the result of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's wisdom and sobriety. On his 91st birth anniversary on December 25, it is necessary to remember that he single-handedly extricated the party from its potentially doomed predilection with majoritarianism, which is in sync with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) concept of a Hindu rashtra, where the minorities will be second class citizens. But Vajpayee was a lone ranger who opposed this form of fascism and theocracy - not overtly or vociferously, for that was not his style - but unobtrusively and behind-the-scenes while making it clear to all and sundry that he could not be counted among Guru Golwalkar's loyal disciples although he maintained that he was essentially a pracharak (preacher). It was because of the palpable distance between Vajpayee and the core ideas of the RSS/BJP that he came to be known as the right man in the wrong party while the fiery Sadhvi Rithambara, who once called for one big khoon-kharaba (communal outbreak) between Hindus and Muslims, described him as "half a Congressman". "Why half," Vajpayee had asked jocularly when he heard of the Sadhvi's appellation for him. There was no sign of irritation or bitterness in his riposte just as he had told an interlocutor when informed about the Bajrang Dal's antics - "pagal hai" (they are mad) - half in jest and half with a sense of resignation. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation /will-the-bjp-follow-vajpayees-raj-dharma/articleshow/503098 73.cms |
