Net embarrassment

An article by senior BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, posted on the BJP's website, has resulted in plenty of red faces in the party, as also...

An article by senior BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, posted on the BJP8217;s website, has resulted in plenty of red faces in the party, as also concerns that it might jeopardise the party8217;s fragile, carefully crafted equation with Muslims. Vajpayee has advocated parishkar refining or cleansing as the way to bring India8217;s Muslims into the mainstream.

quot;The Muslims of this country can be treated in three ways. One is tiraskar rejection; the second is puruskar appeasement which is being done by the Congress; the third way is parishkar, meaning to change them by providing them with samskaras values,quot; the article says.

Coming as it does from Vajpayee, who is perceived as a moderate within the BJP, the article has created doubts about the liberal image the party is trying to project. Written by Vajpayee in May 1995 for the RSS organ, Organiser, the article is titled quot;The Sangh Is My Soulquot;. It appears in the website8217;s Philosophy section under the sub-section, quot;BJP and RSSquot;.

In his article, Vajpayee also lauds the new-found assertion of Hindu society, saying that unless Hindu society expands, it will face a crisis of survival.

quot;The simple reason for my long association with the RSS is that I like the Sangh. I like its ideology, and above all I like the RSS attitude towards people8230;,quot; he writes.

The BJP8217;s website, inaugurated with much fanfare last week, was created with the aim of creating a favourable impression on opinion-makers. Given the welter of information the website contains, the article might have gone unnoticed but for an alert Congressman: former Karnataka chief minister M Veerappa Moily, who downloaded the piece and expressed shock at Vajpayee8217;s hawkish position on minorities. The news item was picked up by another paper which played up the article.

Not surprisingly, the Congress has seized this as a stick with which to beat the BJP. Party spokesman V N Gadgil said the quot;real Vajpayeequot; had been revealed in the article, which exposed how bogus the claim of Vajpayee being a liberal was. quot;It amply demonstrates his firm faith in fundamentalism and fanaticism and his utter hatred and intolerance of other religions and faiths,quot; Gadgil said.

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Though it has been wooing Muslims, the BJP is anxious not to alienate its traditional voters. Thus, in an interview given last month to Panchjanya, the Hindi mouthpiece of the RSS, Uma Bharti had said there was no question of the BJP diluting any of its issues; and that Muslims would have to accept the tenets of Hindu belief if they wanted to live in India. She recalled that at the Muslim convention organised recently by her, she had quoted RSS chief Rajendra Singh as saying that the police would not protect Muslims who got into a confrontation with Hindus. quot;They will get protection only when they learn to live in harmony with Hindus,quot; she said.

Vajpayee clarifiesBharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Behari Vajpayee today denied newspaper reports attributing a 8220;hawk-like8221; posture on the issue of minorities to him. In a statement issued here, Vajpayee said the reports, based on his 8220;supposed views8221; posted on the Internet, had misinterpreted certain words and expressions.

He said the website has apparently used extracts of an item that appeared in the journal Organiser in 1995. In the subsequent issue, the journal had apologised for its mistake. After almost three years, the issue has been raked up presumably to gain political mileage, he alleged.