HVK Archives: Text of BJP's political resolution
Text of BJP's political resolution - The Hindu
Posted By Krishnakant Udavant (kkant@bom2.vsnl.net.in)
April 13, 1998
Title: Text of BJP's political resolution
Author:
Publication: The Hindu
Date: April 13, 1998
The following is the text of the political resolution adopted by
the BJP national executive here today.
The Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive halls the formation
of Government at the Centre by the BJP and its allies. The BJP
whole-heartedly thanks to voters for bestowing upon to the
privilege of serving the people of this great nation. The
National Executive also gratefully acknowledges the contribution
of the BJP's pre-election allies towards our victory as also that
of our post-election allies in securing the crucial vote of
confidence on the floor of the Lok Sabha.
At the 1995 Plenary Session in Mumbai, the BJP had resolved to
lead India into the 21st century. That destined moment has
arrived. The BJP shall now strive to ensure that the next
century, now barely two years away, becomes India's century.
That this opportunity has come our way in the 50th year of
Independent India makes it doubly significant. This is both the
end of an era and the dawn of a new one. The Vajpayee Government
heralds a new chapter of optimism in India's post-Independence
history, having set itself to the task of renewing hope,
regenerating resources and reviving nationalist fervour so that
India is fully prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st
century and the new millennium.
The 1998 General Election to the 12th Lok Sabha, which the BJP
contested with Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee as its prime ministerial
candidate, was a watershed in Indian electoral history. For the
first time, a truly non-Congress national alternative to the
party that has ruled India for 45 of its last 50 years, has
emerged. The BJP has added to its parliamentary strength and
popular vote share. It has expanded social and geographical base.
The Mandate of 1998 is a positive mandate for "stable
government" and "able leadership" which the BJP and its allies
are in a position to provide. It is a vote for efficient
governance and clean governance It is a verdict that vindicates
our stand on national issues and gives us the responsibility of
setting right the grievous wrongs of the past. The people aspired
to see Shri Vajpayee as the national's Prime Minister and through
their verdict they have fulfilled this aspiration. Shri
Vajpayee's universal appeal as the tallest national leader in
recent times played a significant role in the Mandate of 1998.
On the other hand, the Congress has suffered further erosion in
its popular vote share which has hit an all-time low, while
barely managing to hold on to its 1996 tally. The party's
pathetic attempt to play the "dynasty" card to halt the erosion
of its support base has foundered.
The UF's electoral plank of anti-BJPism has collapsed. The
barricades that the UF erected to isolate us have come crashing
down in this election. We have defeated the "stop BJP" campaign
of the pseudo- secularists.
The BJP today has more friends and political allies than any
other party, indicating our ever-increasing acceptability as also
support for our vision of a resurgent India free from bhay
(insecurity) bhookh (hunger) and bhrashtachar (corruption). Ours
is a Government that represents the popular aspirations of the
entire country from the north to the south, the cast to the west.
Those who sought to isolate us stand isolated and even deserted.
While in 1996, the pseudo-secularists were successful in ganging
up against us and preventing the 13-day Vajpayee Government from
securing a vote of confidence, this time they were in no position
to indulge in subverting the Mandate of 1998. This is primarily
because, along with our pre-election allies, we were able to
secure a tally significantly higher than that of 1996 and only a
trifle short of a clear majority.
The Left did try to once again hijack the mandate in favour of
the BJP and its allies. But it failed miserably in its effort to
cobble together yet another UF-Congress compact. Indeed, for all
its straining, all that the Left has achieved is the break-up of
a truncated UF.
The National Executive expresses its profound gratitude to the
party President, Shri L.K. Advani, for leading the BJP to
victory. His stewardship of the party through the troubled waters
of Indian politics is a shining example of true leadership. His
tireless efforts to spread the party's message across the length
and breath of the country have contributed enormously to the
phenomenal expansion of the BJP's social and geographical base.
The BJP-led Govenment has adopted a National Agenda for
Governance that seeks to close the gap between people's
aspirations and Government's performance. The Agenda a pro-active
and pro-people document. also emphasises on the need for
cooperation and consensus on all major national issues. The
National Executive halls the new Government's commitment to
securing broad national consensus on all contentious issues as
that is the only way governance can be effective in ushering in
social, political and economic changes and in implementing them.
The National Executive acknowledges that the tasks ahead for the
new Government and the party are by no means easy. The
misgovernance of the last 50 years and its resultant ills, the
accumulated problems of the past, cannot be wished away
overnight.
The immediate task of the Government is to put on course India's
national economy that has badly floundered over the last many
years. There are other areas, for instance agriculture, physical
infrastructure, social sector and internal security, in crying
need of Government's urgent attention.
The National Executive expresses full confidence in the
Government's ability to attend to the tasks ahead. The National
Executive resolves to help the Government in every manner in its
noble mission. The party will have a pivotal role to play in the
days ahead to strengthen the Government's hands. And we shall
succeed in this task.
On the occasion of the BJP's 18th anniversary on April 6, party
workers across the nation took a pledge to cooperate with the
Government in achieving the noble objective of bringing about a
change in the social order: of not doing anything that could
bring a bad name to the Government; of devoting themselves to
freeing India from the scourge of bhay, bhookh and bhrashtachar.
The National Executive solemnly reiterates this three-fold
resolve and rededicates the party to the task of working shoulder-
to- shoulder with the Government for the creation of a new India.
It is our resolve to fulfil the dreams of Dr. Syama Prasad
Mookerjee and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya who would have been
proud of this day. We also owe it to the thousands of party
workers who dedicated their lives to the cause - many of whom
made the supreme sacrifice in the hope that India would one day
get a dispensation it deserves, that this Government is able to
accomplish the goals it has set for itself.
Let the coming years see the India of their dreams emerge from
the morass of the past.
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