Shoaib row figures in BJP core concerns

The BJP top brass on Tuesday sought to claim the nationalistic plank at a function organised on the partys foundation day.

The BJP top brass on Tuesday sought to claim the nationalistic plank at a function organised on the partys foundation day. Party president Nitin Gadkari and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley spoke about the partys core concerns on Jammu and Kashmir,infiltration and the BJP being the pivot of the anti-Congress politics in the country.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and BJP parliamentary party chairman L K Advani were not present at the moderately-attended function organised by the Delhi unit of the party.

Swaraj was initially supposed to attend the function as per the text messages sent out to journalists; Advani blogged on the occasion.

Gadkari discussed the dangers of infiltration in Assam,and the governments soft approach on terror,and of being oblivious to the danger posed by China.

China,according to him,had made incursions into Indian territory at 147 places,but the Indian Army only showed them banners,saying this is our land,asking them to go back.

While both Gadkari and Jaitley said the objective of the BJP was not limited to politics alone,Jaitley stressed that the BJP and the Bharatiya Jan Sangh was founded due to ideological reasons. Nationalism is our ideological compass, stressed the BJP leader as he sought to draw a comparison between Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Jawaharlal Nehru on Jammu and Kashmir. The separate state status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir has now taken the form of separatism. Some think-tanks in the US talk about the so-called joint management of the state with the tracts illegally occupied by Pakistan, said the BJP leader.

Jaitley invoked Advani and said the party was committed to changing the perception about the ugly Indian politician. Gadkari lauded Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for ensuring a record 14 per cent agriculture growth rate in the state.

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Delhi BJP leader V K Malhotra said the Sania-Ayesha episode would not have happened if there was a uniform civil code in place in the country.