Senior BJP leader lK Advani on Saturday expressed confidence that his party would get ‘record-breaking results’ in the next lok Sabha elections, as the situation had never been so favourable for the Opposition party as it was now. He predicted that the UPA’s failure to tackle corruption and price rise would do it in.
“The amount of effort that Congress has made in the last three years to make the BJP win the next lok Sabha elections, nobody else has,” he said at the meeting of the national executive of BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha here.
Referring to the opinion polls published in some newspapers, he said usually such polls are “prejudiced” against the BJP but this time, even these surveys show that the party will win the elections.
Advani said the Congress has ensured that corruption, price rise, people-friendly governance and honest administration would be the issues in the forthcoming lok Sabha elections. When a party worker raised slogans hailing Advani, the senior leader said, “Do not shout slogans about us. This is not required. Instead concentrate on hard work.”
Advani asked the party cadre to take achievements of BJP Governments in various States to people to improve the party’s electoral prospects. He said Congress has ensured that corruption, price rise, need for people-friendly governance and honest administration would be the issues in the forthcoming lok Sabha elections.
He also showered praises on the RSS saying its policy of not discriminating on the basis of caste had helped them win the support of Dalit voters. “RSS never accepted caste and believed that all sections of society are equal. When Mahatma Gandhi visited the RSS shakha (meeting) at Wardha, he was surprised to see people of different castes sitting together and having a meal,” he said.
He maintained that religious conversions from the Hindu fold had taken place due to caste atrocities. “The RSS view of not discriminating against people on the basis of caste has played an immense role in the political growth of our party,” Advani said.
Advani also referred to former BSP chief Kanshi Ram and recalled one of their interactions several years back when he had told the latter that, “what cannot be achieved socially (by Dalits) can be achieved politically”.
Advani had cited the example of RSS shakhas (meetings) held in Punjab to Kanshi Ram, claiming that all sections of society, except Sikhs, used to attend them. The Sikhs too started attending RSS meetings after BJP and SAD forged an alliance.