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New Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated its foundation day Friday, but the mood of festivity and bonhomie at its headquarters here was marred by the Election Commission notice on a compact disc purportedly inciting communal passions against Muslims.

At the party's 11, Ashoka Road, headquarters, the foundation day function was presided over by party veteran L.K. Advani.

The CD is supposed to have been released Wednesday by Uttar Pradesh BJP legislature party leader Lalji Tandon in Lucknow.

In its reply to the Election Commission, the BJP has tried to wriggle out of a difficult situation by disowning all responsibility for the disc.

Since Wednesday, the party leaders have changed their statements on the offending CD several times. Initially Tandon, seen releasing the CD, attacked Muslims in the same vein as reportedly depicted in the disc.

The state's BJP president Kesrinath Tripathi had said on TV that the CD was prepared as election campaign material for the party but had to be first cleared by the Election Commission and inadvertently got released before due clearance.

Then Advani justified the CD saying there was nothing wrong in depicting the truth about Ayodhya (demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992) and Godhra (the train burning in 2002 that led to widespread sectarian riots in Gujarat).

On Friday, after meeting the Election Commission BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "We neither regret it nor are embarrassed by it since we have already clarified that this is not part of our election campaign."

Three BJP leaders - Naqvi, Prakash Javadekar, Rajiv Pratap Rudy - and office secretary Shyam Jaju went to the Election Commission to submit the party's official reply to the notice sent to it.

Javadekar pleaded later that the controversial CD was not the one released by Tandon but had been "inadvertently kept by someone in the kit distributed to journalists".

"We have prepared a CD which is titled 'Jago, utho anyay ke khilaf' (wake up and rise against injustice)," said Javadekar. He said: "This CD does not carry the party symbol of lotus' on it nor the name of the party. We knew nothing about it. As soon as we got to know, we withdrew it."

In its reply, the BJP argued that the party did not invite any action under the Election Commission as it "has not produced, prepared, displayed or distributed the impugned CD. The CD does not form a part of official campaign material of BJP; the CD has not been seen or approved by the leadership of the BJP; the party cannot be held responsible for an unauthorised act of an individual.

"...In the instant case, as soon as the party became aware of the lapse, it suo motu took remedial action itself."

The Election Commission, which has already directed the state authorities to file a first information report (FIR) against party president Rajnath Singh, is likely to make public its announcement Saturday on its future course of action. 

IANS | April 6, 2007

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