Men, Matters & Memories
M L Kotru
When it comes to Hindu mythology few can improve upon the interpretation our saffron brethren of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh have always put on offer. Only they can identify the exact spot where Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya a few thousand years ago. Only few can conjure up visions of a Bheeshma Pitamaha undergoing mental and physical agony as the warring saffron parivar takes to arms.
Imagine Lal Krishna Advani, the patriarch of the BJP, and founder with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, of the BJP, successor to the Jana Sangh, languishing in deep agony in Indraprastha, another name for Delhi, as his comrades/ shishyas repair to the coastal haven of Goa to indulge in a ‘manthan’ (churning) of their own to retrieve the pot of poison to bring an end to our Bheeshampitamah’s agony, paving the way to proclaim the arrogant Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, as their candidate for the Prime Ministerial chair in Indraprastha.
The BJP President and his cohorts, including Arun Jaitley, his hands already muddied by the happenings in the BCCI, acted the perfect Mama Shakuni. Half truths and falsehoods according to pro-Advani men and women were mouthed in the Goan battlefield to “cheat” the absent Advani of his due. Or, so the latter thought.
Advani, feigning illness had stayed back in Delhi, as his pall-bearers foregathered on the sea beach, waving aside his suggestion that Modi be designated as convener of the 2014 election committee and that a former BJP President Nitin Gadkari be put incharge of the State elections.
All of this, as is Advani’s wont, to ensure that the party President, who is constitutionally the head of every BJP organ, Parliamentary Board, election panel et al was not reduced to a cipher. And of course to rein in Modi as well. But the Modi hordes would have none of it.
Some shishyas did offer resistance but only a token one. Modi suddenly seemed all powerful with the hordes on the beach screaming his Jais and another Modi horde angrily demanding Advani’s ouster, an unprecedented scene by people (all Modi supporters) doing a macabre death dance outside Advani’s Prithviraj Road house.
The Ram Rath Yatra, the long and dedicated years of service to the party, the big leap from two measly seats to 182 in Lok Sabha, the rise to the power of the party in Delhi with friend and colleague Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the lead, was all but forgotten. The new avatar was Narendra Modi, the polarizing, divisive Gujarat Chief Minister, who pleased as a punch, was all over the seaside pandal, pumping flesh, flashing ear-to-ear smiles, generally telling the adoring crowd “See, I did it”.
Poor Mr. Advani sulked all three days of the party meet away from Goa in Delhi, “suffering from a stomach ailment”. Rajnath Singh, to make a show of his concern and authority kept up the chant that he had spoken to Advani who was unwell and to whom his advice had been to stay back at home and rest. Sensible, for Raj Nath, the unpresidential party chief, to have kept Advani away from the scene of action.
Predictably, our excitable TV news channels chose not to miss a second of the goings on in Goa and at the Advani house. Panel after panel-same faces for the most part, on all channels-kept up their chants, those supportive of Narendra Modi strident, with Advani men confining themselves to the positives in his persona. There was humour, too, like when, for instance, one of the channels screened the cartoon of the day, showing Advani crafting the Prime Ministerial chair twice and missing both times only to find Modi happily ensconced on the third.
Predictably, the NDA of which the BJP is the major component and Advani the convenor, was furious. The JDU of Bihar, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has long held Modi as a persona non grata; there were Akalis, too, not particularly happy. Advani, though, very wisely, had retained convenorship of the NDA even as he resigned from all other positions in his party.
“For some time I have been finding it difficult to reconcile either with the current functioning of the party, or the direction in which it is going. Most leaders of ours (sic.) are now concerned just with their personal agendas,” Advani fumed in his letter of resignation to the party President. Modi, whom he had saved from being sacked after the Godhara killings by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has covered much ground since. He is seen many by as a doer, his play on the pride of six crore Gujaratis and induction into the State by him of corporates and assorted money-bags has indeed earned him some popularity.
Equally, his bristling persona, his arrogance and “his self-love” have earned him many enemies, as has his obsession with self-promotion and willfulness. Advani, the die-hard party man, was evidently irritated also by the overuse of thefirst person singular by Modi. His irritation brimmed over only a few days back when he said that Gujarat was prosperous even before Modi took over the State, adding “but there are other significant party achievers like the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Chief Ministers who have wrought miracles without much fanfare”. Advani has also expressed concern over the increasing domination of money power or the growing RSS control over the party.
For BJP this is a moment when it can longer afford hiding conflicts and forging compromises in secret chambers. If Modi’s ascendance has done anything already it is his success in forcing the party, his opponents and his supporters to make their case public. In these circumstances it s hard to see Advani in his 85th year holding back now. Lumpen elements have long been part of the Sangh cadre for years. At the height of Ayodhya movement they brought down the Babri Masjid-and that, under Advani’s watch. Never mind the tears he shed afterwards.
Some two decades later a new generation of the rowdies would turn up st. Advani’s home, demanding that he accept Narendra Modi, obviously forgetting that they were targeting the original Hindutva man and a builder of a party that had for decades languished on the margins of power politics. Forget Ayodhya for a while, even his critics will acknowledge his incredible contribution, along with Vajpayee, to the growth of the BJP.
For that reason alone, Advani at the fag end of his career, did not deserve being humiliated in the manner he was. Modi, to recall, has always been a divisive figure and the Advani affair has again raised questions about his ability to lead an India distinguished by its diversity.
A word about the inappropriateness of Raj Nath Singh’s attitude in Goa. He appeared to be more of an RSS personage than the BJP chief. He put up the pretence of not being affected by Advani’s non-presence; then came that bit about Advani being unwell and Rajnath asking him not to come. When that appeared not to be the complete truth, Rajnath insisted that the party was in fine fettle and indeed that Mr. Modi was the unanimous choice to head the BJP election committee.
Not one word about the suggestions made by Mr. Advani. Modi joined the fun and games to claim that he had spoken to Advani and that he had the blessings of his former mentor. Advani did not back any of his claims instead he gently turned the knife on Modi, blogging about the Mahabharat and the fate that awaited Hitler and Mussolini.
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