New Delhi: BJP president Rajnath Singh on Saturday sought to put a lid over the blame game and bickerings in the party over the Lok Sabha debacle saying that success and failure are a "collective responsibility", but acknowledged a qualified responsibility on his part.
In the midst of calls from within on the nature of relationship between BJP and RSS and its reliance on Hindutva, he said Hindutva was to BJP what Constitution is to the politics of the country and ruled out severing links with the Sangh.
In his address to the national executive of the party amid demands for introspection over the debacle and fixing of responsibility, Singh said "success is a collective credit and failure is a collective responsibility.
"Therefore, we must collectively find out the solution. Yes, if anyone feels that any person should take the responsibility, then as the president of the party, I am willing to take this responsibility."
Declaring that Hindutva is the "national essence of India" and has been "eternal, liberal and tolerant", he rejected suggestions that the party's policies based on the feelings of staunch nationalism are faulty.
Singh also made it clear that ideology is a constant which is a perpetual guiding force for a party over and above victory or defeat in elections.
Making it clear that it had not swerved from the core issues of Hindutva, Singh said the party's commitment remained for building a grand temple for Lord Ram at Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 and implementation of Uniform Civil Code.
"Even today we are firm on these issues because we believe that they are the core issues for the unity and integrity of the country," he said.
"Hindutva / Bharatiyata / Cultural Nationalism occupies the same esteemed space in the politics of the BJP as the Constitution of India occupies in the politics of the country," Singh said.
The BJP chief also told partymen that in the just concluded elections, political parties relinquishing their basic character had to bear losses.
Telling partymen that defeat in one or two elections cannot deviate the party from its path, his refrain was that changing the basic character or ideology proves to be "fatal" for any party.
The Left parties had to bear the maximum damage as the Left Front government in West Bengal was seen acting contrary to their basic character on issues related to Singur and Nandigram.
Singh's remarks came when the BJP was unsuccessful in its attempts to come to power for the second time.