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Advani lives to fight another day

     New Delhi: BJP president L K Advani tonight succeeded in winning the battle of his political identity as the 'Leader of BJP' as it is clear now that he will not be stepping down immediately as the President of the party. The RSS toned down its opposition and said that it would not interfere in the internal matters of its sister organisations. But it has conveyed its concerns on organisational discipline, ideology, conduct etc. to the concerned people in like minded organisations. A meeting between senior RSS functionaries and BJP leaders took place this evening at Keshav Kunj, RSS Headquarters in New Delhi. It was attended by RSS General Secretary Mohan Bhagwat, Joint General Secretary Suresh Soni, BJP President L K Advani and senior party leaders M. Venkaiah Naidu, Jaswant Singh and Sanjay Joshi. Highly placed sources in the BJP said that Advani succeeded in convincing the RSS that BJP does not have his replacement for the time being. He also reminded them of his contribution to the Sangh Parivar and how he brought the BJP from 2 seats to 182 seats. According to them, at one time, he even threatened to resign from the party affairs but questioned that who would look after BJP after that. He asserted that he had not deviated from party's ideological committments but BJP was a political party and it has to serve its political interests.

     The RSS, however, has not said anything in favour of Advani continuing in both the posts but it is understood that the game will go on behind the curtains. Advani's logic received the support of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also, who told the Sangh that let Advani decide the timing of his resignation. Parivar's internal differences should not be shorted out under media lights. BJP has to think about its political fortunes in upcoming Bihar elections also and that is why the matter should be given a pause. Vajpayee said that he personally favours Advani holding both the posts but BJP is committed to the principle of one man one post. "It was an arrangement and can be changed. It will be changed... It is up to Advani to decide which post he wants to hold," said Vajpayee. Meanwhile, the suspense over the timing of Advani's exit still continues as anti-Advani forces are making all efforts not to let the issue die. Uncertainty looms large over the holding of upcoming National Executive Meeting in Chennai on July 21-23.

RSS's final word is one man, one post: Sumitra Mahajan (Go To Top)

     Nagpur: The RSS High Command has told senior BJP leader Ms. Sumitra Mahajan that it was the final view of the Sangh that the principle of one man, one post must be upheld - regardless of the personality involved. "Leaders like Vajpayeeji and Advaniji have attained such a stature, that posts do not hold any meaning for them. The Party had itself decided on the principle of one man, one post and irrespective of the fact whether Advaniji is in the post or not. The reality is that he would continue to be the leader and lead the party, for example, Vajpayeeji is not holding any post, but he is still leading the party," said Mahajan after meeting senior Sangh leaders at the RSS Headquarters here. She, however, played down the opposition raised by party leader Pyarelal Khandelwal and Madan Lal Khurana against Advani for his controversial remarks on Jinnah in Pakistan. "He (Khandelwal) never talked of Advani's resignation. He talked of things to be discussed at the appropriate forums," said Mahajan referring to the agenda of discussion at the upcoming National Executive Meeting in Chennai. Mahajan, however, firmly said that the party is committed to its promise on Ram temple at Ayodhya. "Ram Mandir will be made. As soon as the Supreme Court order comes in, we will initiate steps for making that," said Mahajan. She gave execuses for giving a low priority to BJP's evergreen agendas like Ram mandir, Common Civil Code etc. as the party had to take a compromising line because of coalition politics. "The BJP never left its idelogy. We may have kept it a little away on the lean, but never left it. When we came to power, we realised that developmental issues were of more importance than others, and so we focussed on them rather than on the temple," said Mahajan. She reiterated that BJP was very intrinsically attached to the RSS and its ideology and there was no space of differences within the Sangh Parivar over these issues. "I myself was attached to the RSS. Our ideology is not different from theirs. Ofcourse it underwent a little change when we formed the Janata Party, and then again underwent a little change when it became the BJP. And there was a little change when we came into power under the NDA, call it the pressure of coalition politics or anything else. But, our ideology has been the same (in spirit)," said Mahajan. Mahajan was Minister of State for Petroleum during the NDA Government at the Centre.

Advani must go: former BJP president Bangaru Laxman (Go To Top) 
by Ajeet Sarang

     Shirdi: Former BJP President Bangaru Laxman has said that L K Advani must step down as the president of the party and the confusion over his controversial statements in Pakistan should be cleared at the upcoming National Executive Meeting in Chennai. In an exclusive interview with ANI, he said,"Whatever the senior leaders like Madan Lal Khurana and others have said, is the right demand. I agree with their demand. The incidents in the last few weeks, particularly, Advaniji's comments during his Pakistan visit have made the party workers doubtful that the party is deviating from its principle ideology," said Bangaru Laxman. Laxman also said that BJP has been known as a party with difference only because of its ideology. The party workers have dedicated themselves to the cause of uphelding the ideological difference and no one can be allowed to play with their faith in the party. "A lot of confusion has been created in the minds of lakhs of party workers across the country and the party President should clear the air in the National Executive Meeting in Chennai. I think there should be an eleborate discussion," added Laxman. He further said that organisational matters like the rule of one man one post should also be widely discussed as the party always supported this rule. "BJP as a party has always been saying that one man should not hold two posts. Is not it questionable that one (Advani) should not hold two posts at the same time," said Laxman.

     Giving a clear indication that the upcoming National Executive Meeting at Chennai would be a battleground between pro Advani and anti-Advani leaders, Laxman said that all these issues should be on the agenda of the meeting. "Chennai is the right place to discuss these issues," said former BJP President. Earlier also, Laxman had criticised Advani of failing to rectify the errors in the organisation. He felt that the party leadership had sidelined him and this was among the reasons for the BJP's defeat in the last general elections. He pointed out that the BJP's failure to galvanise support among the Dalits and other backward sections affected its prospects in the elections. A huge political controversy broke out after the Tehelka tapes were made public on March 13, 2001 leading to sacking of Laxman and resignation of the then Defence Minister George Fernandes, who was, however, reinducted later. Laxman was purportedly shown accepting Rs one lakh as "illegal gratification" and demanding additional payment in dollars as a consideration for rendering assistance in the matter of supply of hand held thermal cameras to the army. His personal staff Raju and Satyamurthy were also booked for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 and a gold chain respectively. The CBI had on December 6, 2004, registered five cases in connection with the expose, including one naming Laxman and two of his personal staff members under section 120-B (conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and two sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Vajpayee wants Advani in both posts (Go To Top)
by Ashok Pal

     Gwalior: Amidst differences over BJP President and Leader of Opposition L K Advani holding two posts, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today threw his full weight behind his long time friend and said that he would like to see him handling both the posts. "I want to see him on both posts," said Vajpayee. Giving a clear indication that upcoming July 21-23 National Executive Meeting in Chennai will see a final outcome of the controversy created by Advani's statements in Pakistan on Jinnah, Vajpayee clarified that whatever Advani said was in a different context. "All talks regarding Advani's statements will come to a resolution soon. He did not praise Jinnah in Pakistan. He said it in context of the present state of affairs there, where a religious state has now come into existence," said Vajpayee. He further completely ruled out the allegations on Advani shifting from the party's ideology. "All controversies arising out of misinterpretations of Advaniji's statements are baseless," added Vajpayee. When asked about Advani expressing his pain over the demolition of disputed Babri structure on December 6, Vajpayee said that he had many times repeated the same statement and it was not done with any particular intention of sending any message. "Advaniji's statements in Pakistan in context of the Babri structure was neither for the sake of praising it, nor for creating a controversy out of it," said Vajpayee.

       Meanwhile, BJP's General Secretaries are meeeting this evening at Advani's residence in the national capital to work out the draft resolutions to be adopted at the Chennai meet. On the eve of the General Secretary level meeting, senior leaders of the party demanded a debate on Advani's secular sortie in Pakistan accusing him of 'ruthlessly shredding' the RSS ideology. Party's national vice-president Babu Lal Marandi today said in Ranchi," I feel that such issues should be discussed during the National Executive Meeting to be held in Chennai." On Saturday, Madan Lal Khurana, raised a banner of revolt against Advani, slamming him for his remarks on Jinnah in Islamabad. "Whatever he said in Pakistan, should be made clear to the public. I have asked for a debate in the working committee regarding his comments. The people should get right interpretations of his comments," said Pyare Lal Khandelwal, another senior BJP leader, who joined Khurana saying the matter be taken up at the upcoming meeting of the party's national executive. Former BJP President K Jana Krishnamurthy has also written a letter to the party but the contents of his letter were not known.

Ahmedabad NGO gets Nobel prize nomination (Go To Top)

     Lucknow: A non-government organisation - Self Employed Women Assoication (SEWA) - recently started a training programme of embroidery work through Lucknow's famous chikankari technique for the vicitims of Godhra riots. These works of chikan embroideries look gorgeous in their appeal. But, they have a story to tell. Weaved in them are the stories of personal experiences of Godhra violence. Today, they are trying to design new dreams on these chikan garments. Their bright colours are a symbol of hope and colouring the lives of those women. The credit for making their dreams come true goes to Runa Banerji, the Chairperson of SEWA. She has been running this association for a long time and has crossed many milestones of helping the helpless women. But just giving a helping hand didn't do the trick. She had a tough time getting the trust of the victims, who were primarily Muslims. They never even spoke to her as they were afraid of Maulanas. But, SEWA managed to convince them that they were trying to bring them out of the trauma. "They (women) saw a clear chance of joining our organisation, as first, it is a women's organisation and secondly, they didn't have to go anywhere. They could see their benefit in it, causing improvement in their financial situation," said Runa Banerji. The chikan embroidery training was a part of the rehabilitation activities by SEWA at Godhra and during their training, the trainers realised that the embroidery not only helped the women in finding an income-generating activity, but also helped in overcoming their fears.

     The Chairperson of SEWA is finally getting reward for her activities as she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace prize for her initiatives of communal peace and harmony. About this she said, "Though my name has been selected for such an important prize , but the actual credit for everything goes to all the sisters who have made SEWA's initiative a success. And to all those who are a part of SEWA and have contributed their best for its upliftment. I am merely a symbol. They couldn't give the prize to everybody and that's why chose just one name," said Runa Banerji. Besides her, there's one more name on the list of nominations for the same prize from the same organisation. She is Nasreen, a Trainer. She is among the favourite craftswomen in the districts of Halol, Kalol and Godhra. The happiness of the nomination can be clearly seen on her face. "A person should be independent and this organisation helps us in becoming so so. We work and get paid for it and who wouldn't like to be well-settled in life," said Nasreen, a Trainer. The nomination of Runa Banerji and Nasreen for the Nobel Peace Prize will make women aware about the genuine efforts of SEWA and thus act as a great achievement for the organisation. The Self Employed Women's Assoication. SEWA was born in 1972 as a trade union of self employed women. It grew out of the Textile Labour Association , TLA, Indias oldest and largest union of textile workers founded in 1920 by a women, Anasuya Sarabhai. The inspiration for this union came from Mahatma Gandhi, who led a successful strike of textile workers in 1917. He believed in creating positive organised strength by awakening the consciousness in workers.

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