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No question of 'rethink' on Hindutva: BJP

August 01, 2009 17:15 IST
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Saturday asserted that the party will not deviate from its core ideologies of "Hindutva" and "cultural nationalism", saying that there is no question of a "rethink" on this.

Singh said after the Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP's tally decreased significantly, some political analysts, to his "surprise", commented that it is time for the party to have a fresh look at its "ideology" and "political thinking".

Was the election a referendum on BJP's ideologies, he asked in his speech at the two-day state executive committee meeting of the party in Bengaluru.

"Win or loss, we will not deviate from our path. We will not compromise on Hindutva and cultural identity," Singh said.

He also reiterated that the party is opposed to reservation based on religion. Singh claimed that the Left Front lost the Lok Sabha elections -- with their strength coming down from 62 to 17 -- because they deviated from ideology on the Nandigram issue.

He said India was moving towards a bi-polar polity -- with Congress and BJP -- noting that in the Lok Sabha polls, none of the regional parties could get more than 25 seats.

The BJP chief also claimed the United Progressive Alliance government has lost its grip on the economy, pointing out that fiscal deficit has gone up to 6.2 per cent of the country's GDP.

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