HYDERABAD, 14 January 2004 — India’s ruling Hindu nationalists are putting emotive issues on the backburner in a bid to broaden their coalition base after calling early general elections, analysts said yesterday.
During a two-day meeting here of top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the controversial issues of building a Hindu temple at a disputed site and economic nationalism were given a cold shoulder.
The political and economic resolutions passed during the meeting held in the southern city of Hyderabad which ended on Monday tactically avoided mention of the Ayodhya temple and the laying down of policies favoring Indian companies.
Instead the focus was on economic development and making India a global manufacturing hub.
“The message is clear,” said Kancha Ilaiah, head of the Political Science Department of Osmania University in Hyderabad.
“They want to accommodate new allies, including former Congressmen and socialists, into the coalition. Most of these leaders are not comfortable with the temple issue. The aim is to broadbase the coalition,” Ilaiah told AFP.
The Babri mosque in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya was torn down by Hindu zealots in 1992, sparking nationwide communal riots that left about 2,000 people dead.
Hindu activists say the mosque was built by Muslim rulers in the 16th century after they destroyed a temple. The dispute, which the BJP used as its main election plank when it won parliamentary elections in 1996, is still being argued before the courts.
During the 1996 vote, the BJP also laid stress on “swadeshi”, or economic nationalism, and in its manifesto wanted domestic firms to be given a level-playing field to compete with foreign multinationals.
However the BJP made it clear that this time round the focus would be on economic development. “The BJP always take bold and extreme agendas. During the elections (in 1999) it was the Kargil war (with Pakistan) and peace. This time it is economic development. The agenda has changed completely,” Ilaiah said.
The BJP on Monday passed a resolution favoring early elections and Vajpayee said he hoped a new government would be in power by April.
M. Narasimhan, former governor of the central Reserve Bank of India, said the development agenda of the nationalists portrays a “sort of political maturity.” “The party is moving from emotive issues to more basic issues of economic development which are actually relevant to the people,” he said. “It will help them to attract more parties into the coalition.” Vajpayee speaking at the Hyderabad meeting said the BJP has established its place in Indian politics.
