Goa BJP aims to woo minority with Hindutva

September 9th, 2009 MUMBAI - Ahead of assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Wednesday said it is distancing itself from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for having "failed to serve the cause of Hindus and Hindutva". VHP international president Ashok Singhal said that the BJP had suffered reverses in the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections because it did not do justice to the cause of Hindutva.

July 26th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Sunday said the party would not leave its Hindutva agenda at any cost. "We are determined on following the Hindutva agenda.

July 26th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The Bharatiya Janata Party will not drop its Hindutva agenda at any cost, BJP president Rajnath Singh said here Sunday, adding there was no "need for making those factors public" that led to the "party's unsatisfactory performance" in the Lok Sabha elections. "We are determined to follow the Hindutva agenda.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has increased the budgetary allocation to the minority affairs ministry by Rs.740 crore for the year 2009-10 to address the educational and economic backwardness of the Muslim community, Minister Salman Khurshid said Monday. "The plan provisions for the ministry has been enhanced from Rs.130.89 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.500 crore in 2007-08, Rs.1,000 crore in 2008-09 and Rs.1,740 crore for the year 2009-10, Khurshid told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

June 29th, 2009 SHILLONG - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in for a major setback in Meghalaya with its lone legislator all set to quit the party over its alleged communal credentials. I am from a Christian state and hence cannot continue to be with the BJP that still has Hindutva and construction of the Ram temple as its main agenda, A.L.

June 23rd, 2009 JAMMU - Reaffirming his party's commitment to Hindutva, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Tuesday said the electoral "victory or defeat is not a referendum on the ideologies and commitment of the party". Sharing the dais with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohanrao Bhagwat at a function in the Jammu and Kashmir winter capital, the BJP leader said his party was committed to Hindutva and "would not give up that ideology simply because it lost elections".

June 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday reaffirmed its commitment to Hindutva - but an inclusive one, not narrowly confined only to religious practices or expressed in extreme forms". In a resolution the party unanimously adopted on the second and concluding day of its national executive meeting here, the BJP said the Hindutva which it believed in was related to the culture and ethos of the people of the country.

June 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Sunday appealed to party leaders to ensure that Muslims don't get alienated and become the cause of the party's electoral defeat in future again. Naqvi, speaking on the second day of the party's two-day national executive meeting here, said: "We know that we don't get the votes of Muslims, but we must ensure that Muslims don't become the cause of our defeat." According to party sources, Naqvi, also BJP vice president, was referring to the party's failure to win over the Muslim votes and the polarisation among the community against the party if it adopts hardline Hindutva.

June 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Amid dissent and blame game in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its president Rajnath Singh Saturday took responsibility for the party's poll debacle and reiterated the party's commitment to Hindutva. Speaking at the BJP's national executive meeting here, the first since the Lok Sabha election results, Rajnath Singh sought to address dissent by owning up responsibility for the poll debacle while allaying the concerns of the party's ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that Hindutva had been put on the backburner.

June 9th, 2009 Minority lawmakers to highlight health disparitiesWASHINGTON — Black, Latino and Asian lawmakers want President Barack Obama to focus more on racial disparities reported in medical treatment as the White House works toward overhauling the nation's health care system. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus sent Obama a letter last week calling for more attention to minority health problems.

April 10th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Shiv Sena released its election manifesto here Friday, focussing more on local issues like getting a better deal for Mumbai while steering clear of Hindutva. 'It (Hindutva) is a national issue.

April 9th, 2009 BANGALORE - The manifestos of political parties appear to have sunk without a trace even before the elections begin. Instead, threat words like 'chop off', 'kick' and 'behead' or below the belt jibes hurled at opponents are dominating campaign speeches.

April 6th, 2009 BANGALORE - The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka and its main opponent Congress are involved a bitter war of words over Hindutva. Leaders from both sides made alleged inflammatory statements like cutting off the hands of the ideology's advocates and chopping off the heads of those against it.

March 27th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Friday said that neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be able to cobble up a majority to return to power at the centre. 'The BJP with its Hindutva agenda has lost its appeal and everybody (United Progressive Alliance partners) is estranged from the Congress,' Bhattacharjee said in an interview to a private regional news channel here.

March 27th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has planned a grand road show Saturday morning when Varun Gandhi goes to Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh to court arrest for allegedly making hate speeches, party sources said. Sources said that senior BJP leader Kalraj Misra has been sent to Pilibhit to mobilise crowds as the high command wishes to turn it into a 'big event' that could propel this 'other' Gandhi scion into the big 'Hindutva' league.