NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh indicated here on Friday that he wanted the party to return to its Hindutva roots. He said he wanted to lead a party that followed the principle of "integral humanism" expounded by Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, that did not forget the sacrifice of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and that drew its inspiration from "Guruji" M.S. Golwalkar.

By raising all the core Hindutva issues — Ram temple, uniform civil code, abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and "infiltration" from Bangladesh — Mr. Singh signalled a return to the ideology it shared with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Although he avoided directly mentioning the RSS, except to remember the centenary year of "Guruji," the RSS chief who held sway over the organisation for 33 years from 1940 to 1973, he urged the party and the cadre to follow his ideals and principles.

Mr. Singh was delivering his first presidential address to the party's National Council immediately after it ratified his selection as president. The former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the outgoing president, L.K. Advani, were present, as were all senior party leaders and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States. The former general secretary, organisation, Sanjay Joshi, who resigned recently following a sting operation, was also seen.

`Shrouded in selfishness'

Mr. Singh said the present political scenario was "shrouded in selfishness, arrogance, casteism, intolerance and corruption" and talked about elevating politics. For that, the BJP would have to consider itself as not merely a political party but a "movement built on a solid ideological foundation," he said.

The four-point "mantra" for success suggested by him was: restraint at the individual level, coordination at the organisational level, struggle at the political level and service at the social level. He said party workers should also be "socio-political activists."

As an example of all that had gone wrong with politics, Mr. Singh pointed to the "decline of the Congress" that had led the freedom movement, which now had tainted ministers, faced allegations of accepting money from foreign intelligence agencies (Mitrokin Archives), indulging in oil trade (the Volcker report) and protecting Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrocchi.

To remedy this, India must draw inspiration from Hindu culture that survived the most adverse circumstances, he said.

Mr. Singh mentioned the "biggest mass movement" led by Mr. Advani on the Ram temple issue and Murli Manohar Joshi "risking his life" to unfurl the national flag at Srinagar in 1991. The party's cadre, he recalled, had been in the forefront in the fight against the Emergency.

He criticised the failure of the United Progressive Alliance Government to deliver on promises to the aam admi (common man) and for the increasing terrorism and violence.

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