The Hindu : National : Vajpayee, Advani must retire: Singhal

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Wednesday, Jun 16, 2004

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National

Vajpayee, Advani must retire: Singhal

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, JUNE 15. It is time the top two of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani, retired from politics, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad working leader, Ashok Singhal, said here today.

While exhorting them to "show courage" and "own responsibility" for the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Singhal said at a press meet here today that instead of finding a "scapegoat" in the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, or the riots in Gujarat, "those under whose leadership the electoral battle was fought" must "publicly admit" that "the defeat was totally their responsibility."

Mr. Singhal said the BJP leadership did nothing on issues concerning the Hindus. "They discarded Hindutva-related issues" and the "defeat in the elections was the ominous result of this; there was no other reason for the BJP's defeat."

Three senior VHP leaders, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmia and Onkar Bhave, were present when Mr. Singhal made these observations.

"It is not my job to tell them [Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Advani] to take sanyas, but they should make way for the younger people. We cannot suggest who should come forward from among the younger leaders, but they should think about this," Mr. Singhal said.

At this point, Mr. Dalmia said there was a retirement age for everyone, and it was time politicians too fixed one for themselves.

The VHP leaders said Mr. Modi still had a mass following in Gujarat and that Mr. Vajpayee had "insulted Hindus" by saying that the riots were the caused the party's defeat. All kinds of wrong statements (ulte seedhe bayan) had been made by BJP leaders in the run-up to the elections; Maulanas were asked to issue `fatwas' in favour of the BJP; the friendship with the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, was celebrated by the party; and, in every way, the BJP had gone "one step ahead of the Congress in appeasing the minorities." This led to its defeat and erosion of support for Mr. Modi in Gujarat.

The VHP leaders demanded that the Amarnath yatra remain open longer, at least for two months, that there should be no tax on the pilgrims and that the new Government should think of legislation on the Ayodhya issue.

Mr. Singhal said the chief of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, Nritya Gopal Das, had given one year to the Manmohan Singh Government to resolve the dispute.

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