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New Delhi, Feb. 11: Narendra Modi’s message of “hope”, “confidence” and “optimism” in his address at Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce is expected to influence deliberations at the BJP national executive early next month in the capital.
BJP leaders who went through the Gujarat chief minister’s speech last week and assessed its impact on youths claimed Modi’s target audience had responded “enthusiastically” for three reasons.
“First, he packaged the content in an economic wrapping. The content was not a critique of the UPA’s failures but offered ways out of the prevailing gloom. Second, there was nothing political except for a passing mention of the Commonwealth Games fiasco. Not the Sonia (Gandhi) kind of pitch he had adopted in his poll campaigns. Most important, Modi did not once mention the H-word (Hindutva) or the Ram temple,” a source said.
Sources said Modi, slated to pilot the economic resolution or give the keynote speech at the three-day national executive meeting from March 1, was likely to improve on the outlook he unveiled on the Delhi campus.
The BJP, therefore, is unlikely to harp on the UPA’s “corruption” except in passing.
Sources denied suggestions that the party would endorse the RSS-VHP’s “Hindutva” agenda with its stress on the Ram temple and terror.
“We want terror to be designated as terrorism without regard to religion, caste, creed and region,” said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
He said if the UPA’s threat to re-open investigations into terror charges against current and former RSS pracharaks (whole-timers) were mentioned at the executive, it would be “in a couple of sentences or so” in an overarching political resolution.
The party’s rank and file, part of the larger council that will ratify Rajnath Singh’s “election” as the new president, is waiting for one event, though. “That is to drum up the chorus for Modi as PM,” a source said.
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