Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh created a flutter at the BJP National Council session today not only because of his strong advocacy of the Ram temple and Hindutva, but also his indirect jibes at the soon-to-be anointed BJP chief Rajnath Singh.Seconding the political resolution at the session, Kalyan—who was UP chief minister when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992—asked the party leadership not to be apologetic about its Hindutva ideology because of the compulsions of coalition politics.Reiterating the Sangh Parivar’s pet theme that Hindutva was not a narrow doctrine but a way of life, Singh demanded that it be ‘‘forcefully’’ espoused by taking up dormant issues such as the Uniform Civil Code and the building of the Ram temple.If his comments were embarrassing to the BJP leadership given that the political resolution made absolutely no mention of Hindutva or the Ram temple, his subsequent remarks on criminalisation of politics appeared to be directed at Rajnath Singh.Referring to the Rajnath-led 25-day-long ‘‘nyaya yatra’’ in Uttar Pradesh recently, Kalyan said when leaders ask people to raise their hands and vow not to support criminals in politics, ‘‘leaders also must raise their hands and vow not to give (party) ticket to criminals’’.It was a remark, many felt, aimed at Rajnath’s alleged closeness to Samajwadi Party MLA Raja Bhaiyya who has a long criminal record. When Mayawati had put him in jail, the UP don had evoked a lot of support from his Thakur community—to which Rajnath Singh also belongs.Rajnath, who is slated to formally take over as BJP President on January 2, was at one time a close associate of Kalyan, but the two UP leaders became bitter rivals later. A rapprochement of sorts took place recently, but once Rajnath takes over as party boss, the equations could change again.That apart, Kalyan—a key OBC leader whose expulsion from the party contributed to the BJP’s decline in UP—is also said to be unhappy with the manner Uma Bharati was expelled from the party. Kalyan’s pro-Hindutva remarks, party circles feel, could end up bolstering Uma’s ‘‘Ram-roti’’ campaign. The expelled sanyasin has always sought to combine her OBC and saffron concerns, and Kalyan represented the same ‘‘mandal-kamandal’’ combination in the heyday of the BJP in UP.With Assembly elections on the anvil in several southern and eastern states in 2006 (and in Uttar Pradesh in 2007), the leadership does not want to revive a strident Hindutva plank at the risk of losing present or potential allies. But the party rank and file, fed up with the ideological flip-flops at the top, are keen on returning to the comforting certainties of the Hindutva past, as was evident from the enthusiastic applause to Kalyan’s speech. Sleaze CD: RSS mouthpiece makes guarded responseNAGPUR: After maintaining silence on the sleaze CD involving Sanjay Joshi for three days, the RSS on Thursday came out with a guarded response. ‘‘Joshi can rejoin politics in full force if he comes out unblemished. That not happening, he has the option of leading a normal married life,’’ RSS leader Tarun Adarsh said in an editorial. He added that there was no need to go into the truthfulness of the CD. Praising Joshi’s contribution to the BJP, the editorial likened his resignation to L K Advani’s quitting positions after hawala charges. The editorial also blamed Joshi’s detractors in the party for the scandal. ‘‘He was made a scapegoat in the sting operation. There are some who couldn’t stand his growing stature in Delhi.’’
