Days after his Nagpur remark that ‘‘the RSS is my source of inspiration,’’ BJP president L K Advani today advocated a return to the roots, telling his partymen that ‘‘tough times do not last, tough men do.’’To lusty cheers of Jai Shri Ram, he reiterated his party’s ‘‘unwavering’’ commitment to the building of a ‘‘grand temple’’ in Ayodhya, an example of the party’s ‘‘unapologetic’’ adherence to its distinct ideology. Addressing delegates at the day-long BJP national council session to ratify his appointment as president, Advani claimed that negotiations between Hindu and Muslim leaders — he did not name them — on the Ayodhya issue had reached an advanced stage just before the Lok Sabha elections. ‘‘If the Vajpayee government had returned to power, the construction of the temple would have begun by now,’’ he said, without divulging details. Advani’s claims and promises about the Ram temple was clearly aimed at the party’s ‘‘core constituency’’ and Sangh Parivar affiliates who had felt betrayed by the Vajpayee government’s failure to address the one issue which propelled the BJP to centrestage from the political periphery. Though he played to the gallery speaking extempore, Advani was more circumspect about the time-frame of building the temple in the written text of his speech which was circulated later. ‘‘The nation eagerly looks forward to the day the makeshift temple is replaced by a structure befitting the greatness of Lord Ram,’’ he said. And then added: ‘‘At the same time, we must be candid enough to recognise that the Hindu anger that exploded on the streets in the early Nineties has given way to a patient wait for the new temple whose construction is, I feel, inevitable.’’ Significantly, he ruled out a court verdict as a feasible option and did not refer to the constitutional amendment route either. The Ram temple issue apart, Advani’s 75-minute long speech offered a curious mix of sharp self-criticism and gung-ho optimism in equal measure. The self-criticism, or introspection on the reasons for the party’s defeat, was met with repeated applause from the rank and file — especially when Advani said the ‘‘neglect’’ of the karyakarta was one big reason for the poll setbacks. Advani said in the last four-five months, he had heard numerous complaints from grassroots workers ‘‘about the behaviour and style of some party functionaries during the time BJP was in power at the Centre.’’ There have been ‘‘charges of arrogance, aloofness, cronyism, over-dependence on money power and even corruption,’’ he said, while underlining the need for the BJP to adhere to ‘‘value-based politics’’, prove that it was genuinely ‘‘a party with a difference’’, and to change the image of the ‘‘Ugly Politician.’’ Another reason for the BJP’s setback at the hustings was the ‘‘disconnect between good governance and electoral victory,’’ Advani said. In his first acceptance that the party’s pro-rich image proved costly, Advani also said that ‘‘in focussing on the big picture we were guilty of overlooking some details.’’ Elaborating, he said, ‘‘In making India globally competitive, we fell short of providing an adequate cushion to communities that were overwhelmed by both technology and the market. They were unmoved by our assertion that India is shining.’’ But the self-criticism was overlayed with dollops of optimism. Echoing Venkaiah Naidu’s confident ‘‘we shall come back,’’ Advani said: ‘‘This government may limp along for several years or it may collapse at any moment. Therefore, I tell my people to be prepared for elections any time.’’ Atal Behari Vajpayee, far more cautious than Naidu or Advani, also declared: ‘‘Haar gaye, par himmat nahin haare’’ (we have lost but we have not lost our confidence). The political resolution moved by Arun Jaitley and seconded by Narendra Modi and Vasundhara Raje was a no-holds barred attack on the UPA government’s five-month record in office. It reiterated the BJP’s daily criticism against the government’s handling of internal security, ‘‘devaluation’’ of the PM’s post, and ‘‘backseat driving’’ by the Left.
