The reason could be the general election that is only months away, sources said.
A statement issued after the BJP’s core committee meeting here tonight was shorn of pet phrases such as “hot pursuit” and did not sound like the party at all.
It condemned Pakistan for using terror as an instrument of state policy but didn’t call for military action, not even air strikes to destroy militant training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The BJP requested Pakistan to abandon the “perilous road” of confrontation and “observe at least an elementary code of neighbourly conduct”. The statement said: “To Pakistan, we say: Do not please violate the commitment of January 6, 2004, also of all the UN resolutions and international opinions on terrorism.”
The polite appeal came from a party that has in the past threatened to teach Pakistan a lesson at the slightest provocation. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had talked of “aar-paar ki larai” and sent troops to the border. “Hot pursuit” has for years been the favourite phrase of L.K. Advani, who hopes to become Prime Minister in 2009.
BJP leaders Jaswant Singh and Arun Shourie today justified the restraint, saying military options could not be talked about in news conferences. They said the “nationalist” BJP would stand by the government if it took “stern steps to ensure that Pakistan desists from jihadi terrorism.”
But at a time the national mood is jingoistic, the BJP’s caution is surprising. While there is a view that the six-year stint in government has made the party more responsible, another explanation is that the party is afraid any military action will hurt it in the election.
The party believes in this atmosphere of public anger, a military strike on terror camps would only benefit the ruling Congress.
With the general election due in months, this is not something the BJP would want.
That the party has polls on its mind was given away by this paragraph in the resolution: “The BJP believes that the ultimate solution only lies with the people: they must ensure that power rests in the hands of persons who will always place the interests of our country above all else, who will never barter them for electoral gains.”
BJP president Rajnath Singh, who often sounds more strident than his party on every issue, also spoke of the need to bring international pressure on Pakistan.
Source: SANJAY K. JHA-The Telegraph