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BJP accepts government's supremacy

Bharatiya Janata Party president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre today set at rest the raging controversy over which is supreme, the government or the party, by formally acknowledging the supremacy of the former and declaring that the BJP does not believe in "backseat driving".

"When we talk of prior consultations with the party, that does not mean we are backseat drivers," he said after the BJP national executive's two-day meeting in Bangalore. The government is in the hands of the senior-most leader who founded the party, he added.

Replying to a question on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's assertion that the government is supreme in matters relating to governance, Thakre agreed, saying the government is responsible to Parliament and the people.

"They know what are the difficulties in running a coalition government. Added to that the court intervention is also growing. In these circumstances they know how best to govern. At best we can only advise them," Thakre said.

He, however, asserted that the party must be consulted when the government takes any major decision that is outside the national agenda of governance.

Thakre also announced the setting up of a mechanism for better co-ordination between the government and the party. The committee, which includes Vajpayee and Thakre, will have the party general secretaries and some ministers as members. Vajpayee will decide the ministerial representatives at the first meeting of the new panel.

Though the decision to set up the co-ordination mechanism was taken at the national executive's Gandhinagar session last year, Thakre said it could not be implemented in view of the assembly election in November.

Asked why 'Hindutva' did not figure in his opening remarks to the national executive, Thakre said the issue was dropped because of the nature of the government, which is a coalition. But that does not mean the party has abandoned Hindutva, only that it is unimportant "at this stage".

Replying to another question he said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had never criticised anyone in the government. "We have to take their views into consideration, but not necessarily translate them into action."

The RSS and the BJP are two different organisations, unlike the Communists or the Congress. The RSS system is not meant for a larger society like the country and it functions in a different manner. "We are not controlled from any one centre," he added.

Thakre said there was no question of conflict between the government and the party over the attacks on Christians and Christian institutions in Gujarat. "We don't believe in such violence. Whatever happened is condemnable."

He said in a multi-religious country like India, everybody should take care to avoid violence. All contentious issues should be resolved through persuasion. While stray incidents cannot be avoided, the culprits must be punished, he said.

Thakre said the administration should try to "localise" these incidents and not allow them to grow into a major problem as a clash between any two communities would harm the country. He warned that the country would not progress if such incidents are allowed to continue.

He also blamed newspapers for reporting a "one-sided" version of the events.

UNI

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