Thursday, February 18, 2010

BJP discards ‘untouchability’ agenda, switches to Dalit issues

BJP discards ‘untouchability’ agenda, switches to Dalit issues

INDORE, Feb 17 : Untouchability was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “political commitment”, new president Nitin Gadkari said Wednesday, indicating a significant shift in strategy for the party by bringing in issues of Dalit welfare.
Including Dalit issues in the party’s agenda, Gadkari said in the inaugural session of the BJP’s national executive meeting: “The issue of untouchability is a part of our political commitment.”
Several party leaders who attended the session were of the view that this was an indication that the BJP was no longer content to be tagged as a party of middle class urban voters. “We need to expand our base. Dalits are an important constituency and a neglected one too. No national party has taken up their cause in big way on sustained basis. We are going to do that in days to come,” a senior BJP leader who attended the inaugural session told IANS.

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