BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY
National Executive Meeting
Hyderabad -- January 11-12, 2004

POLITICAL RESOLUTION

The National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party expresses its deeply felt gratitude towards the people of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh for giving the BJP a thumping victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections. This was not an ordinary electoral verdict. There was anger in the people’s antipathy towards the Congress. At the same time, there was deep appreciation for the initiatives and achievements of the Vajpayee Government at the Centre. The Congress lost in Mizoram, too. Its victory by a reduced margin in Delhi made little difference to its overall debacle. The outcome of the Assembly polls has made a powerful political statement whose significance is not local but national. Expectedly, it has accelerated the pace of political developments across the country. Equally expectedly, it has crystallized the people’s already dormant desire to give the BJP and allies in the NDA, under Shri Atalji’s leadership, another term to govern at the Centre.

The National Executive is meeting in Hyderabad at a defining moment in India’s economic and political history. There is an unprecedented peacetime resurgence in national pride, owing to India’s remarkable achievements in various fields. A popular mood of hope and self-confidence, also called the “Feel Good” factor, pervades the country today. Many things that seemed impossible have become possible in recent years. Never in the past had the international community expressed so much admiration for and hope in India. There is keen expectation and a gathering belief that India is poised for a big leap forward. The people are crediting this rapid transformation of both the reality and the mood to the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the good performance of the NDA Government.

The reasons for this are numerous and varied. Bucking the fate of earlier coalition governments at the Centre, many of which were wantonly destabilized by the Congress, the NDA under Shri Atalji’s leadership has not only provided stable governance, but also good governance. His is already the third longest tenure as Prime Minister. Between 1985 and 1998 India had seven Prime Ministers; but since March 1998, only one – Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Remarkably, he is the only Prime Minister with a non-Congress background and who has never depended on Congress support for occupying the country’s highest executive office. He and the NDA have thus demolished the Congress party’s self-serving myth that it alone can provide a stable government at the Centre and that only a person from the Nehru dynasty can provide leadership to the country. Shri Atalji has been in the saddle for six consecutive years, but his popularity and stature have continued to grow year after year.

The people have seen how Shri Atalji, ably assisted by Shri Advaniji, has steered the ship of the nation through troubled waters with courage and equanimity. He has carried every section of our diverse society with him. Contentious issues have been handled sensitively and are sought to be resolved through dialogue. He has strengthened the Centre-State relations, which suffered much tension in the authoritarian Congress era. The needs and concerns of all States have been sincerely addressed, without any discrimination on political grounds. He has sought to create a national consensus on all major issues. All this has enriched India’s democratic traditions, created a culture of working together, reinforced national unity, and strengthened social cohesion. “Pradhan Mantri ho to aisa”, is the common refrain of the people of India.

The NDA Government has taken such bold measures for strengthening India’s national security – in its external as well as its internal dimensions – as have no parallel since 1947. Making India a nuclear weapons power was a decision that our Government took in its very infancy. It not only defied pressure from big powers, but also turned critics into friends. Deftly responding to the challenges and opportunities in a fluid and fast-changing world, our Government’s conduct of foreign policy has strengthened India’s voice and raised her prestige in the world.

With the steady broadening and deepening of economic reforms, India has today become the second fastest growing economy of its size in the world. Increasingly, the world is talking about India in the same breath as China, seeing our two countries as the economic powerhouses of the world of tomorrow. The NDA Government’s developmental initiatives and achievements outshine those of the Congress and Congress-supported governments in the previous fifty years.

India’s political leadership is now being universally seen as having both the determination and the capability to deal with challenges that seemed insurmountable not long ago. For example, Jammu & Kashmir is now on the road to peace and normalcy. The level of cross-border infiltration and terrorism has come down. The Prime Minister’s statesmanlike journey from Lahore to Agra to Islamabad has created all-round expectations of a breakthrough in the relations with Pakistan. Pakistan’s declaration that it will not let its territory be used for terrorist activities against India is a matter of satisfaction for us. Our Government has taken up another challenging problem from the Congress era—namely, the border dispute with China—for resolution through mutual dialogue.

There is a new mood of optimism in the North-East. The past five years have seen an unparalleled level of Centrally supported developmental initiatives in the region. There is also good progress in the peace process, as a result of the Government’s sincere efforts to win over the confidence of the people of different ethnic groups in the North-East. At the same time, insurgent and anti-national forces have been firmly dealt with. In this context, the National Executive expresses its sincere appreciation and thanks to the King of Bhutan and his Government for their recent resolute action to flush out ULFA and other militants from that country.

It is thus becoming obvious to pundits and lay people alike that the BJP alone is capable of resolving the several intractable problems created by the Congress misrule. The BJP is also being seen as the only party that has a clear vision for India’s future. This is evident from the enthusiastic response, especially from young Indians, to the Prime Minister’s call to make India a Developed Nation by 2020.

This is the broad canvas of the NDA Government’s performance against which the National Executive of the BJP assesses the current political situation in the country. We have several obvious advantages: Shri Atalji’s leadership; our Government’s excellent all-round performance; the NDA as a cohesive pan-Indian political platform; and an energizing vision and a concrete action plan for the next five years.

In contrast, when the people look for an alternative to the BJP, they find that there is not only no alternative, but the only alternative is a terrible alternative. The opposition is cleaved by disunity and distrust. It is without a common leader, without a common vision, and without a common agenda. Since they have nothing else to mobilize themselves around, the Congress and the Communists are once again playing their failed card: “Secularism is in danger”. The utter falsehood and irrelevance of this issue is clear from the simple fact that it has not helped them to bring all the non-NDA parties onto a common platform. Hence, the Congress and the Communists are enacting a first-rate comedy on the national political stage by proposing to create not one but two “secular” platforms to defeat the BJP!

The Congress governments in the States where it is in power, are a study in non-performance. They are also mired in corruption and scandals, the most shocking being the Telgi scam in Maharashtra and Karnataka. In both Kerala and Punjab, they present a picture of paralysis and open infighting. In Bihar, the Congress is a partner in a government that has become a synonym for ‘Jungle Raj’.

Panicked by the prospect of suffering another defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party has become a sudden convert to the virtues of coalition politics. However, its moves lack credibility since everyone knows that the Congress is doing so out of compulsion. The Congress is not seen as a trustworthy party as it has a history of destabilizing “friendly” governments.

The Congress seems to be realizing that the people of India are not willing to accept a person of foreign origin as the country’s Prime Minister. This has also not found favour in a large section of India’s political spectrum, including several opposition parties. As far as the BJP is concerned, we are firmly of the view that only India-born Indian citizens should occupy the country’s top positions.

Summing up, as the people survey the political choice before them, this is what they see:

All the feedback that the Party has received from different parts of the country points out that the people of India think that the Vajpayee Government has not got sufficient time to accomplish its mission and hence deserves another term. They are in a mood to give a renewed and larger mandate to the NDA under Shri Atalji’s tried, tested and universally acclaimed leadership. Responding both to this popular mood and to the prevailing political situation in the country, the National Executive of the BJP makes a strong recommendation to the Government to call for elections to the Lok Sabha as early as possible. It calls upon all the Party units, all Party workers, and sympathizers to gear up for the elections in right earnest.

Destiny has placed the responsibility of shaping India’s future in the BJP’s hands. The unstoppable rise of the BJP since the late ‘80s, Shri Atalji becoming the Prime Minister for the first time in 1996, the formation of the NDA government in march 1998, the people’s renewed mandate to it in September 1999, and the excellent performance of this government for nearly five years – this not an ordinary chain of events. Rather, it points to a tectonic shift in Indian politics. It shows that the people of India have rejected the Congress as their preferred party and have accepted the BJP in its place.

We are confident, that once again, together with our allies in the NDA, we shall create history. And continue to serve Mother India with redoubled devotion and commitment.