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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 000298 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL PINR KDEM IN
SUBJECT: BHARAT BALLOT 09:  BJP SWINGS INTO ELECTION MODE, 
CHANNELS AYODHYA 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 00109 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime 
ministerial candidate L.K. Advani kicked off the party's 2009 
national elections campaign unveiling the slogan, "If BJP 
wins, India wins."  Advani heralded the BJP's terror-fighting 
and governance record, while attacking the United Progressive 
Alliance (UPA) government for failing to address the 
country's looming security, welfare and development 
challenges.  He attempted to play to the party base, pledging 
continued support for a hardliner agenda while, at the same 
time, appealing to moderate voters by touting secular 
development and governance issues.  Advani also projected the 
BJP as the party of the future, drawing attention to next 
generation leaders Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 
party General Secretary Arun Jaitley.  The BJP is clearly 
gearing up for a hard fight, but it has yet to hit on a 
winning message.  Factionalism and petty infighting within 
the BJP has distracted the party from refining strategy and 
honing its message for April-May general elections.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Tough on Terror 
--- 
 
¶2.  (U)  The BJP has sounded the bugle for the 2009 elections 
campaign over the last several weeks.  Touting the party's 
security credentials while attacking the UPA during a 
three-day party conference in Nagpur, Maharashtra, the 
party's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani criticized 
the UPA's "soft approach" to tackling terrorism alleging that 
the country had become more vulnerable under PM Manmohan 
Singh's watch.  Referring to the Mumbai attacks, Gujarat 
Chief Minister Narendra Modi noted that they could not have 
been carried out without "local help" from inside India.  He 
accused the government of ignoring the "Indian connection" in 
an effort to appease its Muslim vote bank.  Modi reminded 
party leaders that the former BJP-led government had 
implemented stricter anti-terror laws, such as the Prevention 
of Terrorism Act (POTA), which the UPA reversed in 2004 as 
one of its first acts in government. 
 
¶3.  (U)  A political resolution was adopted on the final day 
of the conclave, which threatened to end ties with Pakistan 
-- trade, transport, tourism and cultural -- if the GoP 
failed to deport to India all terror suspects involved in 
Mumbai and other attacks.  The resolution called the UPA a 
"coalition of opportunism" that had "no moral right" to seek 
re-election.  The Third Front was dismissed as the "product 
of politics, manipulation and opportunism," noting media 
speculation of warming ties between the Left-dominated Third 
Front and the Congress-led UPA ahead of national polls. 
 
Hindutva Makes a Comeback 
--- 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Speaking one day after Sonia Gandhi blasted the 
BJP for divisive politics along "religious lines," Advani 
played to the party's hardliner base calling for the 
construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, where 
Hindu chauvinists had demolished the Babri Mosque in 1992. 
According to press, the top brass of the BJP-allied Rashtriya 
Swayam Sevak (RSS) had made it abundantly clear the BJP must 
not sacrifice core ideological issues during the election 
campaign or face losing RSS cadre support. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Advani, who had been evading the issue, asserted 
that India would prosper "only when the Ram mandir (temple) 
is built in Ayodhya."  He added there should be "no doubt on 
the issue" as the Ram temple has been considered a part of 
India's cultural history.  Advani was careful to note that 
the construction of the temple would take place once the BJP 
was in the majority in the Lok Sabha -- a distant prospect -- 
in an apparent nod to the BJP's NDA allies that do not 
support the issue.  Few believe that the Hindutva agenda will 
 
NEW DELHI 00000298  002 OF 002 
 
 
be featured in the party's election campaign.  As a telling 
sign, the political resolution moved by BJP General Secretary 
Arun Jaitely at the conclusion of the conference made no 
mention of the Ram temple, despite rising rhetoric by Advani 
and RSS backers. 
 
"If the BJP wins, India wins" 
--- 
 
¶6.  (U)  In the run-up to general elections, Advani unveiled 
a new party slogan, "If the BJP wins, India wins," noting 
that a BJP-led government would address the country's looming 
security, welfare and development challenges.  He said the 
UPA had failed in its development promises pointing to delays 
in rural job creation and neglected road projects 
nation-wide.  The 81-year-old Advani went on to project the 
BJP as the party of the future, drawing attention to next 
generation leaders, including: Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj, 
Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 
Countering media buzz surrounding the Congress "youth wave," 
Advani highlighted that BJP leaders have risen among the 
party cadre, while Congress up-and-comers such as Rahul 
Gandhi and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah 
owe their political careers to family connections. 
 
Comment:  Hindutva, the Latest Buzz Word 
--- 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The BJP has struggled to identify issues that 
could give the party a leg up in upcoming elections.  Party 
leaders had hoped to gain momentum from the three-day 
conference on the core ideological issue of building the Ram 
temple in Ayodhya.  However, as many observers have pointed 
out, the Hindutva agenda has failed to garner support among 
moderate NDA allies and even within the party itself.  The 
resurfacing of the Ram issue last week continues to suggest 
petty infighting and factionalism within the BJP (Ref. A). 
The BJP would lose credibility if it ran on the Ram issue, 
since the former BJP-led central government did nothing to 
advance temple construction in Ayodhya.  The RSS and other 
elements within the Sangh Parivar, however, will continue to 
press party leadership to adopt Hindutva themes in the 
election campaign.  END COMMENT. 
MULFORD