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Not apologetic about agenda: BJP chief

By W. Chandrakanth

HYDERABAD Dec. 26. "The BJP is not going to be apologetic or ashamed of its agenda and the Gujarat experiment shall be replicated in all the States before the next elections to reach the target of 300 seats,'' the party president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, said here on Thursday.

"We are not going to be on the defensive any longer. If anything is wrong, it is minoritism," he said hinting at the party's resolve on its Hindutva agenda.

Addressing presspersons here, he said: "What else is your preference? Godhra? You want to replicate Godhra? No, we do not allow it. It is the Gujarat experiment that is to be replicated, with hard work, united and combined effort. Nothing wrong in seeking to re-impose cultural nationalism."

"But then we are not talking in terms of a theocratic State. It is not going to be a `Hindu rashtra' like Islamic or Christian countries. Our nationalism is what was preached by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru in the pre-Independence era. The post-Independence Congress does not have it. We have inherited it," he said.

Mr. Naidu said the efforts of their political opponents to drive a wedge between the BJP and its NDA allies would not bear fruit. There was no truth in the allegation that the BJP was imposing its agenda on anyone as it was against the coalition dharma, he said. "You don't have to teach someone like Chandrababu Naidu do's and dont's. He is matured enough,'' he said referring to the CPI (M) appeal to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister to reconsider his support to the NDA Government.

The BJP was enthused by its success in Gujarat but was bound by the NDA agenda, he said, trying to convince his allies probably stung by criticism of its aggressive posture after the Gujarat elections. "Hindutva is a political dharma. Is it not a Hindu country from the beginning?"

Asking the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, to mind his own business (for his comments on Gujarat), he advised him to concentrate on developing his country and improving the conditions of the minorities there.

Those accusing the BJP of playing the Musharraf card here were at best serving the neighbour's purpose and not that of the country, he felt.

Mr. Naidu said the BJP national executive had accepted the resignation of the Jammu and Kashmir party unit president, Dayakishan Kotwal, and said his place would be taken by Nirmal Singh.

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