In a veiled warning to his own party Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday said BJP is speaking in “different voices”.
Mr. Modi was speaking at ‘Diwali-Milan’ function organised at BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
Recalling Jan-Sangh era (Jan Sangh is precursor of BJP) long before he joined active politics, he said, “The words may differ, but the view of central leadership and junior most worker used to be same.”
This “ideological unanimity” he said seems to have lost with the expansion of the party. He conceded that it is no longer possible to have “intense training sessions” and regular “communication” to achieve such coherence.
His comments come at a time when UP legislator Sangeet Som, called Taj Mahal a blot on Indian history. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath paid a hurried visit to the monument soon after Mr Som’s comments. The Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance 2017 also is at variance with Central BJP’s rhetoric against corruption. The ordinance for now has put on a back-burner. But senior BJP functionaries indicated that had Rajasthan Chief Minister decided to carry on with the legislation, the central leadership would have intervened.
He also said there is need to create more awareness about internal working of a political party.
“It is true that the funding of political parties is a point of media discussion and many things come out in open. But overall, how they are formed, how they function, how they recruit, their values, their ideologies and their weaknesses, what is the reason behind such weaknesses all this should be debated,” he said
It is essential, Mr Modi said, that political parties evolve with a true “democratic spirit”.
BJP continues aggressive stance
After his ten-minute speech, Mr. Modi got down the dias to personally interact with all journalists. To a question on Gujarat elections, he gave a cryptic two word reply “param-sukh”.
The party continues to maintain aggressive stance. Senior functionaries explaining Prime Minister’s comment later said that the party will easily win 150 plus seats out 182 in Gujarat assembly. They also sought to play down Congress recent overtures to Patidar leader Hardik Patel. “Let him join Congress, we have nothing to worry. In fact, it will only increase our tally,” a senior leader said.
