BJP needs to apologise to this country « makeSplash.com by Sush Jaitly

BJP needs to apologise to this country

May 16th, 2009

The people of the country have spoken and, for a change, they have spoken quite decisively. The mandate given to Congress and in effect to UPA is one based on development and secularism. The people have voted against divisive politics and vote bank politics. One needs to congratulate Congress and it’s allies for having performed the way they have. None of the political pundits gave them more than an outside chance of coming back to power again. And that includes me too, although I’m hardly a political pundit. But now they will and in all likelihood they seem to be in a very strong position to last the full term which is extremely good for the nation.

I know I have been a quite vocal in my tirade against the Congress but the issues that I have spoken about still remain a sore point with me and I stand by those issues like Kashmir, dynastic politics and others which I have been highlighting in the last few weeks. But today I really feel like talking about BJP and it’s dismal performance.

What went wrong Advaniji?

So, what exactly went wrong for the BJP that they lost so badly? There are quite a few reasons which I can highlight. Check them out below.

1. VARUN GANDHI ISSUE. First and foremost was this issue where BJP was seen to be on the side of Varun only after they saw that it can work it their favor. Quite obviously it didn’t. Varun Gandhi may have or may not have spoken those things about Muslims but BJP should have reached out to voters across the country and disassociated themselves from those comments. They did speak about it but quite feebly. Leaders like LK Advani and Narendra Modi did not say one word about it in their rallies. It was like they were hoping that Hindus, deep down in their hearts, will be influenced by those hateful comments and vote for them. How wrong they were.

2. MANGALORE ATTACK ON GIRLS. The way those innocent girls were targeted was shown on all TV channels and it influenced the voters across the country. It portrayed BJP and it’s allies as having misplaced sense of moralities. BJP needs to understand that Indians are more educated and worldly wise now than ever before. No educated person in his right sense could accept the way the attacks were orchestrated and the whole episode was handled. The issue may not have affected them in Karnataka itself, where the attacks took place, but it affected them in the rest of the country.

3. SILENCE ON KANDAHAR. As I have said earlier in my post BJP needs to highlight Kandahar, the party was on the back foot on this issue throughout the campaign while Rahul and Sonia Gandhi kept on harping on it time and again. BJP should have retaliated aggressively. It didn’t, and has paid dearly for not doing so.

4. BJP DID NOT HAVE ANY MAJOR ISSUE. Yeah, that’s the bottomline. Elections are fought on issues and BJP did not have any unless you count black money as an issue, which is ridiculous to say the very least. All they could talk of was black money, weak PM and budhiyas and gudiyas. Even weak PM thing did not work because Manmohan Singh otherwise came across as an honest, sincere and qualified PM, if not as a charming and influential leader, to the people in general. Apart from these lousy issues they could not find anything much to speak about. They should have spoken about Afzal Guru, dynastic politics in Congress, Sonia’s foriegn origins and a whole lot of other things as well but they did not. Too bad for them, as is obvious.

There may be other issues as well but for the moment these I feel are the major ones. So what should BJP do now to revive it’s sinking fortunes? Quite a lot actually.

1. SACK RAJNATH SINGH. Yeah, that’s obvious for every one. He needs to go. Modi needs to take over. He can and has the capability to reinvigorate not just their party cadres but the electorate as well. Apart from his capabilities he’s also a much younger leader which will help the party immensely, if you consider that a large majority of voters are a young lot.

2. CONCENTRATE ON DEVELOPMENT. They need to do a reality check. They have improved their tally in a few places like Gujarat, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh but this has been only and only because of good developmental work being done by their respective govts in these states. The good work speaks for itself and the people acknowledge it wholeheartedly.

3. MOVE BEYOND HINDUTATVA. Plain and simple, Hindutatva does not work in India any more. Don’t try and influence people based on their religions. It’s political suicide. Only when this image of their being a very rigid and stuck up party in the eyes of the people change will they have any chance at coming to power in the centre. Till then they can just coolly rest where they are.

4. CONCENTRATE ON SOUTHERN STATES. They are weak in the South to put it mildly. They need to work on their party’s strength in Southern states where they are all but non existent, if you exclude Karnataka.

5. APOLOGIZE TO THE COUNTRY. Yeah, I deliberately saved this for last. They need to apologize to the country for Gujarat riots, among other things. I know its a big ask but just take a look at Congress. They apologized to Sikhs for 1984 and they have been forgiven more or less. Their victory in Punjab in today’s results proves this beyond doubt. BJP has no option but to do the same. And they need to apologize to the entire country, not just Muslims, for Mangalore, Kandhamal, Babri Masjid and off course Gujarat. We are all sensible people. When people see sincerity and committment not to repeat such things they themselves will come back into their folds. Coupled with their developmental work in states where they are in power I’m sure BJP can bounce back in future.

Apart from these few things there are many more small things but more about them later. For now if BJP can start working on these five things they can make a huge difference in their future prospects. I know it means moving beyond their core beliefs but as is more than obvious, no body cares for their core beliefs any more. The question is will they? Can they be pragmatic enough to read the writing on the wall or they want to go down instead? Will they ever compromise on their ideology, which seems to be flawed at the moment?

Tell me, guys. What do you feel? Do you agree with me when I make these observations? Do you feel that BJP can ever hope to come back to power? Let me know. I’m more than eager to see what you guys feel.

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Posted on May 16th, 2009 India calling • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback

30 Responses to “BJP needs to apologise to this country”

1
Sunny:
May 16th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

wat u r sayin is actually just the tip of d iceberg. dey need 2 sit down nd get dere basics rite. dey stink 2 say d least.

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Comment By : Mayank

U forgotten the Kashmiri Pundits ?? The no. of Temples demolish in Kashmere...who will apologise to them ? havent u heard of "mar mar k musalman banana" ? Will Aurangjeb come out of hell(his grave) 2 apologise to ALL HINDUS for his "sawa mun janeoo" every day for a month?(hope u remember Any 1 said sorry to the harijans who were solders at a time but for not changing there religion they forced to work as sweepers by Muslim Emperor in India. "AAG KISNE LAGAYEE" ?? As Atal g had said.ANY ONE HAS SAID SORRY TO THOSE WHO BURNED ALIVE to death IN THE TRAIN in Godhra ?? Any One Indian political party? Will Mulayam sing say sorry to those karsevak killed in the shoot out for no reason before babri dhachcha demolition. Who will say sorry to the rss workers killed in kerela; West bengal....list is endless.write u more when i ll free....

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May 18 2009
Comment By : avdhutji

I had the opportunity to witness the making of JANATA PARTY, its downfall & the double speak of few so called national leaders who were the part of the JANATA PARTY, destroyed it due to personal gains, and again joined hand with BJP as Samata Party and later JANATA DAL (U). Since 1977 during my education in Delhi University I have witnessed the Indian politicking very closely & have been watching & following the business of few tall leaders like ATAL JI, CHANDRASHEKHAR, LK ADVANI & BAIRONSINGH SHEKHAWAT. An era has ended & most of the above mentioned Nationalist Leaders who always have had pain for the country & had always sacrificed self interest for the supreme national interest are either irrelevant or have passed away except the L.K. Advani ji. However Advani ji suffers from the trauma which he has gone through during the partition & that’s the reason that sometimes he mix up his personal feelings while making important decisions in the interest of Party or Nation. This is the reason that people whom he should have been close to were always standing against him from behind the scene or openly. A very recent example of such an erratic behaviour of Advani ji came out in open to the people of my town. We heard that the elder son of former PM Chandrashekhar Mr. Pankaj himself approached Advani ji to join BJP & fight election from Khajuraho Parliamentary Constituency. It was not just a rumour but everyone close to Pankaj ji in Katni town including a section of local BJP leaders were happy about it & were vocal in saying that at last our parliamentary constituency will get a genuine, honest, strong & capable leadership having personal contacts across the party. Unwelcoming behaviour of Advani ji towards Chandrashekhars elder son has eroded the hope that Advani ji would ever become PM. If a person of such a stature thinks so small how can he stride forward with the whole nation which is having such a complex social and spiritual fabric? It is known that personally Advani ji never liked Chandrashekhar. Welcoming Chandrashekhar’s son into the party would have made the organisation strong looking to his personal close contacts across the party which would have helped the BJP considerably in Eastern UP, part of Rajasthan & M.P. and most importantly Advani ji in harvesting the support after the election but Advani ji found more suitable candidate from Khajuraho who recently had said in a BJP worker meeting during his election campaign that “party workers usually fight because of M.P. LAD Scheme fund so I have decided that if I am elected I will distribute the fund equally amongst all to avoid party infighting”. and if his son would have given the party ticket from Khajuraho, it would have helped the BJP in MP & in Delhi. Many people who got the BJP election tickets in assembly election or parliamentary elections are fit for running a grocery shop & such people when elected become a headache for the party organisation and the administration and we the genuine party workers who work for the party without the urge of getting anything in return from the organisation had to burn our hearts when we see the BJP MLA or MP behaves like a shopkeeper. Small people catapulted to high place with the help of BJP & RSS organisation is the main cause of party being stuck at 150 figure in parliament and coming & going in different states in-spite of deep rooted organisation. We need fearless people with strong ideological and correct spiritual background, people who carry tears in the eyes for others pain and boiling blood in there veins as our candidates for elections. With optimism & hope. avdhut...........

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Comment By : Sush

Namaskar avdhutji, You seem to have hit the nail on it's head when you say that Advaniji has not been able to move beyond the trauma of PARTITION. I'm reading his book MY COUNTRY MY LIFE and it is amply clear from it why is it so. He says that in the initial years of RSS it was just a cultural organization of Hindus. He adds that it was fairly common for a person to be affiliated with Congress at a political level and at the same time be with RSS at a personal level.
He brings out two more reasons for his apathy towards Congress.
1. Till the last moment he says that Congress despite knowing fully well that India is going to be divided kept denying everyone in Karachi about the impending Partition and everyone believed them. No Hindu in Karachi was therefore prepared for it.
2. And then when Partition was announced and Hindus were getting killed Congress was not there to help them. It was the RSS and it's workers like him and many others who came to the rescue of Hindus and saved many lives. Not only this they were also instrumental in helping thousands of Hindus to migrate to India.
According to him had Congress prepared them in advance so many people would not have lost their lives. If he feels such animosity towards Congress today I feel that's very understandable if you consider what he has been through.
As for the rest of your statement I can only say that after this huge setback they will read the writing on the wall and make amends. But don't expect any quick fix solutions because there aren't any. It's a long haul from here on for them. And I, for one, can only wish them well.......Bye for now. Sush

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2
krishna:
May 17th, 2009 at 12:38 am

acha side che tha... ok fir theek hai.bjp ke puthe kaam di wajah se hi ae hua.fitte muh ena da. kusse

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3
krishna:
May 17th, 2009 at 12:42 am

oe chadd. har gae na hun.kyu ena di kachi pakarne mein lage ho? mast maula raho. changa fir

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4
India Votes for No Change: Indian Bloggers & Twitter Users React to #IndiaVotes09 Results | Gauravonomics Blog:
May 17th, 2009 at 1:30 am

[...] Sush Jaitley analyzes what went wrong with BJP and says that BJP needs to apologize to the country. [...]

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5
Global Voices Online » India Votes for No Change: Indian Bloggers & Twitter Users React to #IndiaVotes09 Results:
May 17th, 2009 at 1:37 am

[...] Sush Jaitley analyzes what went wrong with BJP and says that BJP needs to apologize to the country. [...]

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6
Harvinder:
May 17th, 2009 at 10:21 am

bjp and sad were never in reckoning in punjab. dey will bite d dust in assembly elections also. d whole atmosphere is anti sad and bjp combine. everyone i know voted for cong. manmohan's apology to sikhs has worked wonders. everyone feels dat dey r a secular party now. with a sikh as pm dey have shown a path of progress and secularism.

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7
siddharth:
May 17th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Why should Sonia's geographic place of birth be an issue?

Rationally speaking, she's now an Indian citizen and she's as Indian as you and me. And, seeing how involved she has been in the Indian political scenario, I can see no reason why her previous nationality should be a problem.

If the BJP had harped on that non-issue, I would have lost even more respect for them as a party.

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Comment By : Sush

Hey Siddharth! Please check out when she became an Indian citizen. You'd be surprised to know that she became Indian citizen in 1984(they got married in 1973) when the post of PM was thrust upon Rajiv Gandhi and it would have looked pretty lousy for him to have a wife who was not Indian. Also, she did not give away her Italian citizenship even then. Now do you understand why she became an Indian citizen and why I feel it's still an issue.

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Comment By : Bindu

Even if Sonia is not an Indian, she is an Indian Bahu, far better than many born Indians who are trying to divide the country on caste and religion and follow the divide and rule policy. And this election was a prompt reply that there are no takers for such born Indians who cheat the peace loving people of this great nation.

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8
India Votes for No Change: Indian Bloggers & Twitter Users React to #IndiaVotes09 Election Results | Gauravonomics Blog:
May 17th, 2009 at 1:24 pm

[...] Rajesh Jain says that BJP needs to decide if it wants to be Right of Center or the Hindu Right. Sush Jaitley analyzes what went wrong with BJP and says that BJP needs to apologize to the country. Jai Mrug at [...]

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9
Global Voices auf Deutsch » Indien wählt für keine Veränderung: Indische Blogger & Twitterer reagieren auf die #IndiaVotes09 Ergebnisse:
May 17th, 2009 at 1:42 pm

[...] sind. Ein Indischer Muslim sagt, dass die Ergebnisse eine Entscheidung, gegen geteilte Politik sind.Sush Jaitley analysiert, was falsch lief bei der BJP und sagt, dass BJP sich bei dem ganzen Land entschuldigen [...]

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10
Readers Edition » Indien wählt für keine Veränderung: Indische Blogger & Twitterer reagieren auf die #IndiaVotes09 Ergebnisse:
May 18th, 2009 at 6:34 am

[...] sind. Ein Indischer Muslim sagt, dass die Ergebnisse eine Entscheidung, gegen geteilte Politik sind.Sush Jaitley analysiert, was falsch lief bei der BJP und sagt, dass BJP sich bei dem ganzen Land entschuldigen [...]

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11
Global Voices in Italiano » L’India ha votato per il non cambiamento: le prime reazioni sui blog e via Twitter:
May 20th, 2009 at 10:24 am

[...] [in] afferma che il BJP deve decidere se vuole essere la Destra del Centro oppure la Destra Hindu. Sush Jaitley [in] analizza gli errori del BJP e aggiugne che questo dovrebbe chiedere scusa al Paese. Su DNA [...]

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12
Aditya:
May 20th, 2009 at 11:24 am

Also they should not have raised the issue of Ram Temple at Ayodhya again. If it was a mosque as on 15th Aug, 1947, it should remain a mosque there. We cannot reverse anything which is done hundreds of years ago (if at all it ever happened).

BJP should become a modern, development oriented party if they want to succeed at least in the next elections. It is more important to rule their states very well.

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13
Mayank:
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm

15 attack on hindu temple incidents have occurred in Goa during the period frm. August 2004 to September 2008 at places viz. Sanguem, Curchorem, Bambolim, Ponda, Chodan, Quepem, Panaji, etc.,during congress govt.(State as well as in Centre) but not even a single culprit has been booked in all the above cases.Any one has apologised ??? u must b knowing better.

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14
swami www ji:
May 24th, 2009 at 9:44 am

future generations and some already now will be least bothered about religion which is the USP of the BJP. They would have been a really professional party had advani not demolished the babri n stirred up a hornets nest... According to me both babri n the ram temple are one,lol... both should be demolished and a big industry be built in that place which employs a thousand ppl n thus keep their idle minds off from the devil!!! I guess we wouldn't have had so many bomb blasts if advani hadn't touched the babri in 1992(post 92 is when we witness a lot of blasts) n so advani is indirectly responsible for the blasts....lol

Yea BJP should apologize to the nation for being so irresponsible in the past... there are better n intelligent ways to deal with problems, going on a rampage never helps...it will only n has only paved way for BJP's failure so far....

Time the BJP drops its hindutva n cooks up other developmental n no-nonsense USP's to win elections in the future...(Winning means with a big majority for itself devoid of regional parties :-P lol...)

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Comment By : Mayank

The U.S.P. of B.J.P. is now Hindutwa once again as it was alaways ... varun g is the great n simple example of it . future generation will remember b.j.p. for its hindutwa. as every indian living in our country is a Hindu.

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15
Global Voices dalam bahasa Indonesia » India Tidak Pilih Perubahan: Reaksi Bloger dan Pengguna Twitter Pada Hasil #PemiluIndia09:
June 1st, 2009 at 3:03 pm

[...] Rajesh Jain berkata BJP harus memutuskan apakah mereka akan menjadi Pusat Kanan atau Hindu Kanan. Sush Jaitley menganalisa apa yang salah dengan BJP dan berkata BJP perlu meminta maaf pada masyarakat. Jai Mrug [...]

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16
Baldevkant:
June 9th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

Adwani & Kulkarni must must Apologize;because If U run BJP from Delhi ; as a lady n her catouri is running the congress from 10 janpath then it is not the idiology on which BJP stands. A person(not leader) with communist mentality r now in the party and finding high officio place in the party which is not doing any good . There r ppl. who dont move out of their offices or home to a local panwala only [claiming that their hand is on the nerve of the people of India] are cursing the Sangh. A clerk who write the Bhashan of the supream leader claim that sangh was not in support of our supream leader!!; forgets that the ppl. of India r very much against that act
(Jinnah Majaar). The act to curse the RSS may b a joint venture of that cleark & top or may b not ; but whatever it is one must be very crystal clear that it is the workers of BJP who were not supporting fully the supream leader due to the act on inna Majaaar. Case of throwing A Shoe in a public meeting in Katani M.P.was one of the greatest example that workers r not happy with the topmost leader.Atlast the leader who set his mind according to the english news paper(He loves english) can do any good for himself or for the BJP ??? P.M. in WAITING ?? R.A.C. BHI CONFERM nahi hua???The party failed to counter-argue with Sonia when she said that Advaniji is a slave of R.S.S by saying that Sonia is a slave of Italy-Mafia. Advaniji has remained silent when Rahul and MMS raised the issue of Kandahar. He simply failed to answer them back and corner them on any issue. The party who potrayed him as Majbooth Neta couldn’t take on Rahul, Sonia and MMS.Please remove Rajnath Singh immediately as party president. Apart from winning Gaziabad constituency, his achievements for the party are zero.Raj nath tried every thing to defeat Dr. Murli manoher Joshi. Rai who stood against him was X BJP President from Banaras and a layalist of Rajnath singh. He neither criss-crossed the country like Modiji or helped the party secure any significant number of seats in U.P like how BJP secured major number of seats in Karnataka.

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Comment By : Namita

Mr Baldevkant, So u think it's because of the BJP workers that they lost the elections. Bullshit. These people lost because they are communal. They cannot think beyond their own cocoons in which they are living. If they do not learn from their mistakes they r going to be extinct in a few years time.

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17
Baldevkant:
June 10th, 2009 at 3:07 am

Respected Namita ji ; leave it aside wether it is A BULL SHIT OR A COW DUNG . Can you tell me please how the BJP is Communal...

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18
Namita:
June 10th, 2009 at 9:26 am

Mr Baldevkant, Which world r u living in? Look around u, b it attack on christians in kandhamal or killing of muslims in gujrat. There r so many instances of bjp communalising every issue. d Ayodhya movement was nothing but a mathod of getting votes nd when they did get d votes nd came 2 power dey could not make Ram Temple. So much for their movement. Thats why i say dat dey r communal. dey use hindus 2 get votes. people like u nd me r nothing but votes for dem. Thats it.

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19
Baldevkant:
June 13th, 2009 at 2:19 am

Resp. Namita ji;
I m living in da world in which i can see clearly that a train has been burned with 120 man,women n children alive in godhra. I m living in da world in which i can see 2 lacs. Kashmeris r living in the camps in Delhi n other places leaving there crores of property back there in Kashmere.I live in da same world in which i see Swaminathan & his 15 associates killed bruttally(though they told the govt.12 times that their life is in danger). The world in which u cant say any thing to a mosleme painter M.F.Hussain. The world whr. 9/11;;; 26/11;; took place. Whr. Muhammad Afjal is not getting hanged. Whr. Malegaon is situated & a non musleme can not b the Mayor. The world whr. Keral is situated & CPI Communist killed 23 poor Hindus just for no reason ( because they use 2 sing Bhajans in the evening).For ur very kind of information plz. go to Ayodhya & see frm. ur own eyes that der is a Temple of Sri Ram Lalla at the same place;d only matter is v r waiting for da supream court verdict for da decision; not like da Shahbanoo case whr. u dont obey da law n verdict of Supream court. Plz. tell me who opened da gates in 1982 ?? One More thing IN MY WORLD in which i m living ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. NOW IT WILL B TIT FOR TAT : AN EYE FOR AN EYE ; BLOOD FOR BLOOD!!!! and in ur world u evern cant use original names ?? Namita.....!!!!!

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20
Baldevkant:
June 13th, 2009 at 2:21 am

plz. Read Wht. Mr. Mayank ji has written above>>>>>>

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Media Channel 2.0 — Blog — India Votes for No Change: Indian Bloggers & Twitter Users React to #IndiaVotes09 Results:
October 27th, 2009 at 2:37 am

[...] Rajesh Jain says that BJP needs to decide if it wants to be Right of Center or the Hindu Right. Sush Jaitley analyzes what went wrong with BJP and says that BJP needs to apologize to the country. Jai Mrug at [...]

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22
K.P. Prashanth:
January 7th, 2010 at 4:06 pm

The main problem seems, as is apparent in this article and in most if not all of the responses, is that all fail to recognize that anything 'Hindu' is habitually becoming termed as communal / untouchable / extreme / radical etc.etc.etc whereas the blatant outbursts, screaming oppositions and anti-nationalistic views constantly perpetrated by muslims and christians alike are accepted with a hushed silence; as if to say that Hindus can not but others can! If one digs out the Congress archive it will reveal a trail of apologies pending their attention. After all it took 24 years for the Congress to vaguely apologize for the 1984 carnage of the Sikhs, isn't it.If 'so called secularism' has to be preached, it should be equal to all religions and not discriminated. Cheap vote bank politics + constant anti hindu propaganda by a lot, including hindus themselves, speaks only of a inevitable doom of a wonderful culture lingering around the corner for our country. And Congress will and is the political patron for this doom.

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23
Nolan Minero:
February 17th, 2010 at 2:31 am

Hi, i must say fantastic site you have, i stumbled across it in AOL. Does you get much traffic?

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BJP needs to apologise to this country

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