BJP tries to woo Muslims under its 'NDA Plus' plan

Keen to win more allies, BJP, which has been identified with the Hindutva tag, on Friday decided to strive for an "imaginative reprojection" of its "commitment to secularism" and reassured minority community that it does not support discrimination on basis of religion. L K Advani, while delivering the valedictory address at the party national council meet, insisted that as the anti-Congress constituency is rapidly expanding, the NDA should gain from it and transform itself into " NDA Plus". "This involves reassuring our potential allies that they have nothing to be apprehensive about partnering with the BJP.
This requires an imaginative re-projection of our commitment to secularism," Advani said. In his written text of his valedictory speech, Advani maintained that BJP needs to reassure the minority community that "we brook no discrimination or injustice in dealing with different sections of our diverse society". Interestingly, Advani in his speech condemned the controversial film deemed offensive to Islam which has sparkd protests but did not read out this part of the written text like BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who skipped it in his inaugural address at the national council "I would like to refer to an important issue that is agitating the minds of Muslims in India and elsewhere.... A controversial film on Islam, which is highly derogatory to Prophet Mohammed, is circulating on the internet. "I strongly condemn it. It is against our ethos to accept defamation of prophets and saints, who are revered by any faith," Advani said. Advani suggested that BJP should formulate a common minimum agenda to bring others to the "NDA Plus" fold. He said this can be called "common national commitment to good governance". When Gadkari had taken over as BJP president nearly three years ago, he had given a call for wooing certain sections of the society to increase the party votebank by 10 per cent to defeat the Congress. Reaching out to Muslims was a part of this project. Congress questions BJP commitment to secularism Congress on Friday questioned BJP's attempt to project its "commitment to secularism" at its national council meet, saying as long as the opposition party "pretends" doing it for votes, it will not succeed. "BJP has to wake up to realize that this country is intrinsically secular and it will never accept any communal ideology. As long as they pretend to do it (professing secularism) for votes alone, they won't succeed. But we do hope that the realization is dawning on the BJP that there is some problem with its communal ideology," party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary told reporters. The Congress also reacted sharply to the accusations of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has a role in all the scams and the Prime Minister needs to answer. Accusing Modi of resorting to "cheap sensationalism", Chowdhary said that his accusations are "stupid and ridiculous". "It shows the level to which he has stooped. It underscores the mental bankruptcy to which he has stooped. If somebody is happy in that mire, let him be there. We are not going to stoop to that level to conquer," Chowdhary said. Attacking Gandhi, Modi is reported to have said that the UPA took the recent FDI decision on multi-brand retail a day after she came back from the US. -->