Palahalli, thanks for encouraging to read it.

I attempt to clarify what I meant in my earlier posts after understanding (hopefully) what Elst was really trying to say.

The BJP deserted its core ideology long time back; it wasn’t during 2004-2009 when it was sitting in the Opposition. It happened during 1998-2004 when it was in power.

The time to staying true to its ideology and moving forward on its core ideology was when the BJP was still on the ascendant; when the people in the BJP were still moved by the concept of a Hindu nation and the rank and files of the RSS energised by the potential of the BJP.

Today, more than ever with “cultural globalisation”, the media as well as Congress & its allies have brainwashed the concept of secularism into the minds of a majority of urban populace. With the poor in rural areas, they have swayed them through immediate incentives via redistribution schemes as well as through the attractive image projected by MMS & Gandhi family.

Does Elst seriously believe that the BJP’s core ideology of Hindutva as marketed earlier will find takers given this time and context?

I doubt so. The ideology needs to be repackaged in a manner that fires the imagination of the poor in rural & urban areas as well as the middle class in the urban areas. The BJP can remain true to its core ideology for sure; but it has to make itself & it’s message acceptable in these changed times.

Ideas do not exist in a vacuum. One needs committed people who espouse their cause. The committed people are already there in the RSS. The message needs to be repackaged to rekindle the spirit and the potential for awakening the masses like it did in the early 1990s. To serve the cause of spreading the message; the repackaging needs to be done and communicators need to be identified. The important question before the BJP is who will manage those two important aspects.

In my mind, there is the party leader and the Leader of Opposition. I prefer Modi for the former and do not know about the latter; maybe Arun Shourie. These two need to work with Mohan Bhagwat to put the BJP back into the reckoning.

Whether this will happen is what I am anxiously waiting to see. In the meantime, I hope that messages like the one by Elst (whom I respectfully admire) do not find traction with the Sangh Parivar.

If not, then a coup, not a BJP government, is needed. The Hindutvadis should continue to work the grassroots, that is much more important. They need to make headway in Bengal, the entire Northeast especially Assam, Orissa, Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu. These states are where the Mohammedan-Christist menace is most pronounced, and the Hindutvadis especially need to establish a foothold. There will be less money coming from the West and Arab lands as the credit crisis and the declining oil revenue/increased cost of production is going to hit these nations hard. For instance, expect America either to default on its debt or have the dollar crash (the latter is more likely) which will make the value of Christo donations weaken vs. the Rupee. Time for the Hindutvadis to make more moves – in general I am impressed by them (not the BJP) but more is needed.

Advani tried to become a Vajapayee by trying to lick any as* he could find.
The few votes that we got was because of leaders like Modi. See what happened in Orissa. These emasculated leaders didn’t campaign aggressively about the betrayal of hindus by patnaik. I think this was one of the last nails in the BJP’s coffin. Advani loves NDTV too much and was busy trying to show his secular face to them.

As for Mr. Elst, please lead the BJP. At least we have some one speaking intelligently

To say that the BJP lost because it deserted its core ideology is stupid to say the least. If one has understood what the BJP stands for and what the Congress stands for, will any supporter of BJP go and vote for the Congress?”

Perhaps I should have made my position more clear. I was disillusioned with Advani when he made his “jinnah-was-a-secular” speech, and I have been watching the BJP with despair as it clones Congress in its pursuit of minority votes. Somehow people are just not talking about 1947 and what happened to the people of West Punjab and East Bengal. Now the same thing has happened to Kashmiri Pundits and we can only wonder which state will be next. Exactly when do we start taking some hard steps like uniform civil code, scrapping article 370 and the expulsion of 40 million Bangladeshis who have become a vote bank of Congress and Marxists ? Pandering to minorities has never worked, and the mullahs want an Islamistan out of India. I am not saying that we expel our muhammadan population, but at least we can throw out the illegals and stop giving them their own islam based sharia law. What kind of a country can call itself secular and yet have islamic sharia law for its minorities ? We can check and reverse the demographical trend, but it has to start ASAP.

Had it not been for Advani making his stupid speech that “Modi is not my successor”, I would have actually been more active in getting some votes for the BJP. As it is, I just voted myself and that was all. The same was the attitude of my friends.

She touches a very raw nerve that should make any self-respecting Hindu and BJP supporter quake first and then deeply reflect on what Radha has written. This we must experience before writing anything more on the subject.

Thank you again, Sir.