Bharatiya Janata Party
National Executive
25th & 26th June 2007
Parliament Annexe, New Delhi

Political and Economic Resolution

This meeting of the National Executive is being held at a time when only a month ago the UPA Government completed three years of its tenure. Although the BJP at that time released a charge-sheet detailing a comprehensive analysis of the failures of the government, nonetheless, in the political resolution it is both desirable and necessary to undertake a detailed critical analysis of the UPA government's performance.

The BJP has many times reiterated that the Prime Minister is not the real centre of power in this Government. The UPA Chairperson and the Left Parties are running the government from outside. However, it now appears that in addition to these two, the other constituents of the UPA are also arm-twisting the government to extract additional power and benefits. The helplessness of the Prime Minister became all the more evident when the DMK chief himself nominated the minister to be included in the government and also named the portfolio to be allocated to him. This act has lowered the dignity of the Prime's Minister Office.

The hallmark of this government has been vote bank politics and appeasement of the conservative and separatist elements of the Muslim community in the name of minoritism. These two aspects are now endangering our national security, which is an ominous sign. The complete silence of the government on the issue of the death sentence to Afzal, the main accused in the Parliament attack, is a shameful example of this. The demand for withdrawal of troops from the Kashmir Valley by a constituent party of the Congress-PDP combine in the state and the secret withdrawal of the army by the centre add credence to our accusation. There has been an increase in the activities of the ULFA in Assam. Our patriotic citizens are repeatedly being targeted there. In particular, the sense of insecurity among Hindi speaking people has increased. The naxalites have spread their network in the name of a Red Corridor right from Karnataka to Nepal. The recent incidents in Chhattisgarh are heart rendering. While the Chhattisgarh state government is fighting naxalism with great determination and courage, thanks to the compulsions of vote bank politics the Congress led central government has not gathered the courage to fight the ULFA in Assam and the naxalites in the eastern and central Indian states. No meeting has been called as yet to chalk out a coordinated action plan.

The UPA government is vitiating the social harmony of the country. Reservation in government jobs and educational institutions on religious grounds has now reached the point where even national resources are being sought to be allocated on religious lines. The Prime Minister has created a new controversy by saying that Muslims have the first right over the resources of the country. Banks have been directed by the Government to give 15 percent of their loans to people belonging to the Muslim community. The Sachar Committee has gone to the extent of suggesting political reservation for Muslims and even their nomination to political offices as they reportedly face difficulties in winning elections. This kind of thinking could lead the country to the point of another partition. The foundation of the country's first partition was laid when the demand for separate electoral rolls and constituencies on religious basis came up. The Bharatiya Janata Party strongly opposes this type of mindset.

So far, the foreign policy of the country had never been viewed from a communal angle but now foreign policy too has become a victim of this flawed thinking. Till date, India always blamed Pakistan for cross-border terrorism but with the Prime Minister now declaring that Pakistan itself is a victim of internal terrorism has resulted in the dilution of India's traditional stand on terrorism. China is repeatedly pushing its claim over Arunachal Pradesh. There have also been disturbing reports about China capturing a lot of territory in Arunachal Pradesh. The Government has, however, not yet given a befitting response to China on these issues. The manner in which the government is negotiating with the US on the nuclear deal has put a big question mark on the sovereignty of the country and its independent nuclear policy. The National Executive demands that the Prime Minister should take the country into confidence and bring the reality to the notice of the people.

Today our entire neighbourhood is highly turbulent and unstable. This instability has a direct impact on our national interests and is also posing a challenge before us. However, the central government is ignoring this challenge and displaying its apathy on the threats to our country.

The UPA Government is self confident about its economic management of the country and is constantly patting its own back by boasting of increasing growth rate. However, the fact of the matter is that if there is one area of maximum contradictions and differences, it is the economic policy of the UPA government. The increasing growth rate is not the outcome of any policy initiative by the UPA government but in reality is the result of the policies and programmes formulated earlier during the NDA rule. All those developmental programmes that were initiated under the NDA have either been hit or have slowed down under the UPA. Some of the projects have been shut down and the construction of the new AIIMS and hospitals has not even started as yet.

The skyrocketing prices of essential commodities of daily use as well as increasing rates of interest have made the life of the common man miserable. The rate of interest on housing loans has been raised from 9% to 14.75%, an increase of 60%. The dream of the middle class people of building a home has been shattered. On the issue of price rise there is an ongoing tussle between Dr. Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister and Dr. Manmohan Singh the Economist. As an economist he finds high prices a sign of better economic management and increasing growth rate, but as the Prime Minister, he has to face severe criticism from the opposition and even from his own allies. This explains his dilemma and his dilemma in turn is killing the common man. These days, the Government, by citing reduction in the inflation rate, is claiming that prices are coming down. But in reality this is a farce. The prices of essential commodities of the poor and common man have not come down. The condition of the poor has not improved as the change reflected in the Price Index is due to decreasing prices of non-essential commodities. In the rural areas this anomaly has further increased.

The biggest victim of price rise is the poor labourer. In our country, the number of people working in the unorganized sector is around 37 crore, of which agricultural labour, brick kiln workers and construction site workers constitute the largest segment. The NDA government had initiated a revolutionary direction by preparing a programme that offered social security to the workers in the unorganized sector. The UPA government, on coming to power, scrapped this programme on the grounds that it would bring a better programme which would also enjoy legal sanctity. The UPA government has completed three years in office but the poor workers are still awaiting the promised law. Even a draft bill has not yet been presented in Parliament. Now the government is claiming that it will bring the bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The BJP National Executive demands that this bill should not be delayed further and it should definitely be passed in the Monsoon session.

The crisis in the agriculture sector is deepening with every passing day. The National Executive has decided to adopt a separate resolution on agriculture and that is why a detailed mention on the issue is not being made here. However, it is worth mentioning that on the one hand, farmers are being forced to sell their produce at cheaper rates, and on the other hand, the consumers are buying the same products at much higher rates. That is why, under the UPA rule, the producer and consumer are both unhappy.

The BJP has constantly been expressing its objections on FDI in the retail sector but now another dimension has been added to this issue. Large industrial houses are seeking to make heavy investments in this sector, as a result of which, the livelihood of small shopkeepers, rehri-walas, street vendors and others is getting dangerously affected. There already exists a wide gap between the rich and the poor in India. This policy will only further widen the gap of this inequality. While a few business houses would amass large amounts of wealth, in the process crores of people would find it difficult to even make both ends meet. The Bharatiya Janata Party warns the Government that in a situation like this it would become extremely difficult to maintain law and order. The government should undertake immediate efforts to stop this move.

Over the last few days, the mask from the face of the CPI(M) has been completely exposed. The leftists whose slogan was "Jo dharti ko jote boye, woh dharti ka malik hai" (Those who sow the land are the owners of the land) are not only forcibly snatching the farmers land and handing it over to industrialists but also showering bullets on those farmers who are protesting against this move. Singur and Nandigram have become black spots which cannot be easily washed away from the face of the Left government and the communists, who used to always claim themselves to be the messiahs of the farmers and labourers. On several occasions, the BJP rushed its delegation to these places to witness and closely understand all these shameful incidents. This meeting of the National Executive expresses its complete solidarity with those farmers and promises to extend its full support to their struggle.

The dates of this meeting of the National Executive i.e. June 25-26, are important dates in the history of Indian politics. Three decades ago on the night of 25-26 June, emergency was imposed and for the first time the Congress was voted out of power in the subsequent elections. These days the political scenario in the country is charged because of the Presidential elections. The grounds on which the UPA and Left parties have selected the Presidential candidate has resulted in diluting the dignity of the office of the President. The Congress selected its candidate on the sole basis of allegiance to one family, and only to save the UPA, the Left parties gave their approval to a candidate whose name was a surprise to many. Support is being sought for the candidate on the ground that she is a woman. The BJP wants to make it clear that a woman candidate was neither the first nor the natural choice of the UPA. This name has emerged only out of compulsion. To speak about a woman candidate does not augur well for those parties who could not even once introduce the Bill on Women Reservation in Parliament. On the contrary, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and the NDA government in Bihar have promoted the cause of women empowerment by reserving 50% seats for women in local bodies.

The post of the Prime Minister has already been divested of its real power, and if a person "faithful to a particular family" occupies the post of the President, then even without a formal announcement of emergency, we will witness the complete degradation of the already degrading constitutional institutions of the country. The Bharatiya Janata Party alongwith other NDA constituents has decided to support the independent candidate Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who is contesting the election for the post of President. The National Executive welcomes this decision.

Another example of the degradation of institutions is the manner in which the CBI is functioning. The UPA is misusing the CBI by ensuring "Reward to Supporters and Punishments to Opponents". The CBI is not being allowed to function as an independent agency. In the Quattrocchi case, the role of this institution has completely come under a cloud. First a law officer was sent to London to get the bank accounts of Quattrocchi de-freezed on the grounds that there was no case against him in India. Recently, the news of Quattrocchi's arrest in Argentina was kept a secret until he could manage to get bail. Thereafter, his extradition case was contested in such a lax manner that ensured he could not be extradited. These incidents are ample proof that the CBI is literally dancing to the tune of the central government.

Over the last six months, elections were held for some state assemblies and municipal bodies. While the election results in Punjab and Uttarakhand and the Municipal Corporation elections in Mumbai and Delhi were quite encouraging for the party, the results in Uttar Pradesh were disappointing. In Goa the results were not upto our expectations. We will have a detailed review of the UP assembly election results separately but a quick analysis reveals that the voters of Uttar Pradesh had fully made up their minds to dislodge the Samajwadi Party government. As a result of this objective, they did not want a division of votes to take place. The voters accepted the BSP as a viable alternative as we took time to present ourselves as a proper alternative. The results in Goa were unexpected and will need a separate review.

In the next one and a half years, assembly elections will be held in some of the states. Today the BJP is in power in ten States. We are in power in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. In Bihar, Orissa, Punjab, Karnataka and Nagaland we are sharing power with our alliance partners. We are the main opposition party at the centre. The National Executive express satisfaction that the BJP is continuing to play the role of an effective and main opposition party and the governments in the BJP ruled states are providing good governance to promote the welfare of the people and ensure development of the state. The National Executive also feels that the people of the country are fed up with the mis-governance of the UPA and are looking for a viable alternative. The people recollect the good governance of the NDA rule under the leadership of Vajpayeeji. The National Executive calls upon its workers to note that the country is looking towards us with hope and expectations. Let us prepare ourselves to shoulder this responsibility.