04-19-2006, 06:44 AM
<b>"We will be able to wipe out anti-minority image too"</b>
Interview
C.P. Radhakrishnan
It is not that the Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting the elections in the State for the first time without the support of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Unlike in the past, the party is now seeking to project itself as an alternative to them. The State unit president, C.P. Radhakrishnan, talks to T. Ramakrishnan on various issues.
QUESTION: Has the BJP grown in the last three-four years?
Tremendously. In the history of Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, we received for the first time more than 1,000 applications [seeking party tickets]. There were 150 women and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes. Sixty-four organisations had approached us for alliance, of whom 50 are Dalit organisations. This has removed the negative image that the BJP is anti-Dalit. We have never been anti-Dalit, anti-Muslims or anti-Christians. We do not believe in vote-bank politics. In future, we will be able to wipe out an anti-minority image too.
Q: Your party manifesto focussed on Hindutva. Will it click with voters of Tamil Nadu?
Hindutva is the inspiration. No manifesto can say something against Hindutva. We are proud to call ourselves as Hindus. That does not mean that we hate others. If Muslims and Christians are proud to call themselves as Muslims and Christians, why not Hindus? I do not understand why one, calling himself a Hindu, is labelled a communal.
Q: Your response to the criticism that the party is nowhere in the fray? You do not get the kind of attention that even Vijayakanth, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam founder, gets?
Vajpayeeji and Jayalalithaaji addressed a rally on the Island Grounds (at the time of Lok Sabha elections in 2004). When the BJP organised a rally on its own (in September 2005 when the party held its national executive) the similar crowd was there. Nobody thought that the BJP could hold such a massive rally on the Island Grounds. When Rajnathji came, nobody thought that in Pulla Reddy Avenue, where [the DMK president] Karunanidhi used to address big rallies, the same size of crowd which used to gather for the DMK, would be there for the BJP also. People used to ask where is the BJP in Tamil Nadu. Now, they are trying to say BJP cannot come to power.
Q: Are there different groups in Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP--anti-DMK and anti-AIADMK?
There is only one group in our party. That is the pro-BJP group. There are different styles in attacking the DMK or the AIADMK. I always attack the DMK more. Our real political opponents, not enemies, are the Congress and the Communists. When the DMK joined with them after backstabbing Vajpayeeji, I attack the DMK more than the AIADMK. That does not mean that I am supporting the AIADMK. I always support the interests of the BJP because the BJP's interests are in the nation's interests.
Q: Unlike the Communists who are able to retain their seats, your party does not even field your leaders from the constituencies in which they won previously?
We had won both Mylapore and Karaikudi seats because of alliance. We know our strength. I want to tell you that our strength is increasing everyday. Communists can give any false promise whereas the BJP will never do it.
Q: Has the party's ideology been diluted in the last four years by admitting people from other parties and those with no background of the Sangh Parivar?
Parivar wants us to grow. Every BJP worker takes his inspiration from the Sangh. A political party, by nature, has to be a mass-based party. So, we have to take more, more and more newcomers. All the newcomers, in that process, will convert themselves into self-disciplined Swayamsevaks.
Interview
C.P. Radhakrishnan
It is not that the Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting the elections in the State for the first time without the support of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Unlike in the past, the party is now seeking to project itself as an alternative to them. The State unit president, C.P. Radhakrishnan, talks to T. Ramakrishnan on various issues.
QUESTION: Has the BJP grown in the last three-four years?
Tremendously. In the history of Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, we received for the first time more than 1,000 applications [seeking party tickets]. There were 150 women and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes. Sixty-four organisations had approached us for alliance, of whom 50 are Dalit organisations. This has removed the negative image that the BJP is anti-Dalit. We have never been anti-Dalit, anti-Muslims or anti-Christians. We do not believe in vote-bank politics. In future, we will be able to wipe out an anti-minority image too.
Q: Your party manifesto focussed on Hindutva. Will it click with voters of Tamil Nadu?
Hindutva is the inspiration. No manifesto can say something against Hindutva. We are proud to call ourselves as Hindus. That does not mean that we hate others. If Muslims and Christians are proud to call themselves as Muslims and Christians, why not Hindus? I do not understand why one, calling himself a Hindu, is labelled a communal.
Q: Your response to the criticism that the party is nowhere in the fray? You do not get the kind of attention that even Vijayakanth, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam founder, gets?
Vajpayeeji and Jayalalithaaji addressed a rally on the Island Grounds (at the time of Lok Sabha elections in 2004). When the BJP organised a rally on its own (in September 2005 when the party held its national executive) the similar crowd was there. Nobody thought that the BJP could hold such a massive rally on the Island Grounds. When Rajnathji came, nobody thought that in Pulla Reddy Avenue, where [the DMK president] Karunanidhi used to address big rallies, the same size of crowd which used to gather for the DMK, would be there for the BJP also. People used to ask where is the BJP in Tamil Nadu. Now, they are trying to say BJP cannot come to power.
Q: Are there different groups in Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP--anti-DMK and anti-AIADMK?
There is only one group in our party. That is the pro-BJP group. There are different styles in attacking the DMK or the AIADMK. I always attack the DMK more. Our real political opponents, not enemies, are the Congress and the Communists. When the DMK joined with them after backstabbing Vajpayeeji, I attack the DMK more than the AIADMK. That does not mean that I am supporting the AIADMK. I always support the interests of the BJP because the BJP's interests are in the nation's interests.
Q: Unlike the Communists who are able to retain their seats, your party does not even field your leaders from the constituencies in which they won previously?
We had won both Mylapore and Karaikudi seats because of alliance. We know our strength. I want to tell you that our strength is increasing everyday. Communists can give any false promise whereas the BJP will never do it.
Q: Has the party's ideology been diluted in the last four years by admitting people from other parties and those with no background of the Sangh Parivar?
Parivar wants us to grow. Every BJP worker takes his inspiration from the Sangh. A political party, by nature, has to be a mass-based party. So, we have to take more, more and more newcomers. All the newcomers, in that process, will convert themselves into self-disciplined Swayamsevaks.