Author: UNI
Publication: The Hindu
Date: January 12, 2004
URL: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00212200070.htm
Bharatiya Janata Party president
Venkaiah Naidu has reiterated that Ram temple, Article 370 and the Common
Civil Code were very much on the party's agenda and even though due to
compulsion of the NDA coalition they could not be implemented, the party
would keep on pursuing them.
In an interview to the RSS mouthpiece
'Panchjanya' just before the BJP's National Executive at Hyderabad, Naidu
said that even Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has said that the Ram
temple be constructed, but with a consensus.
According to Naidu "Hindutva is
the soul of BJP, but not an election issue." He maintained that the party
has not changed its ideology.
"Hindutva is a lifestyle. Hindutva
is BJP's soul-force and India's soul. One cannot separate one's soul. But
Hindutva is not an election issue and should not be made one. Hindutva
is the BJP's fundamental ideology along with Ram temple construction, Article
370, Common Civil Code and is basic to its philosophy."
Referring to the secular coalition
proposed by the Congress, he said that the Congress had tried many times
earlier also to make such a coalition, but all its efforts had proved futile.
He doubted the intentions of the Congress on secularism and said that it
was all being done for the vote bank politics.