Direction was right but failed to reach people

Tarun Vijay

The issues were just those the people wanted BJP to raise — harsh on terror; IT for the rural folks and commoners; five lakh Kashmiri Hindus be sent back; illegal Bangladeshi infiltration to be stopped; opposing Raj Thackeray’s divisive parochialism; bringing back black money from Swiss banks and de-communalising state schemes; making secularism mean seeing citizens as Indians and ending appeasement on religious grounds.

The best of the highway schemes, telecommunication revolution, roads, improved power supply and novel schemes for the girl child were essentially BJP initiatives earning laurels from bodies like planning Commission to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

BJP’s direction was decided by nationalism and not by family fiefdoms or Afzal-Quattrocchi centric considerations of an extra-constitutional variety. It stood firmly against the bloody jihadis of Nizame-Mustafa and Nizame-Marx kind and was the first party in India’s history to introduce 30% reservation for women.

It was the only party that had a clear policy framed for youth and infrastructure building with an assured economic package for farmers. Anything wrong in that?

Those who blame Hindutva forget that if India was not a Hindu majority we would have gone the Pakistan way. The entire south Asia is facing a rapid marginalisation and decrease in Hindu population. State powers are blatantly bruising Hindu sentiments for vote banks — communal reservations and hurting the majority on issues like Ram Setu. Why it has become a ‘sin’ to speak for them who continue to be brutalised from Swat to Srinagar?


Never in post-Independence history have security forces felt so letdown; ex-army personnel even returned their well-earned war-decorations in frustration. BJP took up their anguish. The top industrialists and corporate giants publicly appreciating BJP policies was a rare phenomenon.

Was it prompted by BJP’s ‘wrong’ direction? With the bright young radiant faces of the rich and powerful families entering Parliament triumphantly, Indian democracy has come a full circle. From Gandhi’s salt movement to a dynastic movement. The BJP direction was just right. The fault lies somewhere in reaching out to the people.