Marking the Bharatiya Janata Party's return to the Hindutva fold, party president Rajnath Singh in his maiden address on Friday raised the Sangh Parivar's core issues, including the Ram temple and abrogation of Article 370 even as he asked cadres to be careful about their conduct, morality and image.
Addressing the party's national council meeting to ratify his appointment as party president, Singh also attacked the UPA government for its appeasement policy, politicisation of education, anti-farmers, anti-poor policies and defending Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi," among other issues.
Earlier, he was unanimously elected president of the party after his name was proposed by his predecessor Lal Kishenchand Advani and seconded by senior leader Jaswant Singh.
Also present were former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and former general secretary Sanjay Joshi, who had to resign in the wake of the circulation of a CD showing him in poor light.
Rajnath did not refer to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in his address.
"Hindutva is not only an icon of Indian culture and traditions but also a source of economic resourcefulness, surviving strength and intellectual faculty. Hindutva professes respect towards all, Hindutva arouses faith in social justice and is an antidote to the communal malice.
"Hindutva is the message of societal concord. And Hindutva, above everything, is the symbol of national way of life. The Supreme Court has also expatiated upon Hindutva in this way. Those who brand Hindutva communal should regret their gross misinterpretation in the light of the apex court's observation," he said in a strong espousal of the party's core agenda.
Asserting that the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was a natural manifestation of the feeling of nationalism, he said 'no other construction except the grand temple of Ram Lalla at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi will be in accordance with the national spirit. It is an issue of faith for crores of countrymen."
Singh also called for evolving a consensus on Uniform Civil Code and urged all political parties to reconsider 'with full sensitiveness' their stand on abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that provides special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
"The honour and proper rehabilitation of Kashmiri pandits has been a priority for us and today we continue to be sensitive to this issue," he said.
More from rediff