October 29: Cashing in on what it claims ``disillusionment'' within the ranks of the BJP, its progenitor the Bharatiya Jansangh is making a serious bid to make a comeback to the centrestage of National politics by wooing both the friends and foes of the ruling saffron party.The once-formidable party has not only entered into a dialogue with BJP's Alma Mater, the RSS, ``at different levels of leadership'' but also its arch foe former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, to whom it has offered even the organisation's leadership.``The performance of the ruling NDA, led by the BJP, is worse than all the previous governments and the BJP has relegated itself to the position of the `B' team of the Congress,'' new General Secretary H C Upadhyay said.Claiming that a large number of BJP workers were joining his party, Upadhyay said, "the BJP has turned its back on Hindutva to gain power. This has disillusioned its workers and supporters most of whom have a Jansangh background. They gave it a thrashing in Gujarat and now it is UP's turn."Interestingly, senior RSS leaders at the organisation'srecently held Agra camp had also criticised the BJP for diluting its agenda.The Jansangh leader claimed that his party led byoctogenarian Balraj Madhok has received a "positive response" from the RSS leadership.He, however, said Jansangh did not subscribe to the idea of a `Swadeshi' church as suggested by RSS. "Their (Christians and Muslims) faith originated in the Middle-East. How can we ask them to severe their links with that place. We only want them not not to treat us (Hindus) as Kafirs and heathens," the Jansangh leader said.A brainchild of late Shyama Prasad Mukerji, the Jansangh came into existence on October 21, 1951. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had joined the party in 1954.However, in 1980, after the failure of the Janata Party experiment, the party acquired the nomenclature `Bharatiya Janata Party' with a few old timers like Balraj Madhok retaining their separate identity as the original party.Jansangh recently received a shot in the arm during the Gujarat Panchayat polls when one of its candidates sprang a surprise victory in Surendranagar defeating his BJP rival.Jansangh's move to wrest the "Hindu Agenda" from the BJP which has "put it in the backburner" is also evident from its decision to organise a mass rally at Ayodhya on December 6 this year, the eighth anniversary of the demolition of the disputed structure."Now, we will be focusing on Mathura (KrishnaJanmabhoomi) and Kashi (Gyanvapi mosque)," Upadhyaya said.Ironically, Jansangh has also sent feelers to Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who the party claims is no more a "Maulana" (pro-Muslim)."BJP will be thrashed in UP as it happened in the Gujarat local elections. We have asked Kalyan Singh to take over the party's leadership and work together with leaders like Mulayam Singh," Upadhyay said, adding the "resurgence of the Jansangh has now become a National necessity."
