New Delhi, March 7: L.K. Advani was today heard humming a tune he was believed to have discarded sometime ago.

The so-called “Hindutva” mantra the BJP veteran was associated with during his Ayodhya rath yatra days in the nineties is back on his lips.

At a women’s convention organised by the BJP’s youth wing today, Advani described the Ayodhya agitation as “the biggest mass movement of Independent India”.

Advani said that in addition to building the Ram temple, the movement had laid bare the pseudo-secular politics practised by some parties.

The BJP leader rued that the UPA had not understood the cultural heritage of India and had stooped to the level of questioning the existence of Ram. Advani claimed that the RSS, Jan Sangh and the BJP had made a “major contribution” to making India a powerful nation.

The comments stood out in contrast to the moderate theme Advani had been pursuing of late, especially after the BJP anointed him the Prime Minister-in-waiting.

The shift of gear is being viewed as the fallout of the budget largesse, which seems to have weakened the BJP’s development and agriculture planks.

The Centre believes that it has pleased the urban middle class — the BJP’s core constituency — through tax breaks and won over rural India through the loan waiver scheme.

BJP’s internal security barbs, too, have fallen flat with the Congress hitting back by reminding the rivals of blots on their own record. The attack on Parliament and the Kandahar hijack during the NDA regime have been the Congress’s favourite missiles.

Advani’s audience, aged between 18 and 35, had come from across the country. Pictures of Sunita Williams, P.T. Usha, Sania Mirza, Kalpana Chawla and Kiran Bedi adorned the stage.

The meeting also saw Poonam Mahajan, the late Pramod Mahajan’s daughter, being presented as the BJP’s youth icon.