Advani’s Dream

(December, 11, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The announcement of the BJP that its Prime Ministerial candidate, should the party win the next elections, will be L K Advani is intriguing in its timing but holds no surprises otherwise. Ever since it became clear that A B Vajpayee, the former Prime Minister, had been laid low by health concerns it was only natural that Advani, the forever no: 2 man, would get have a shot at the top seat.

But when elections are not nigh for a year and more, why did the BJP choose this moment to make a formal word on what was essentially thought to be a formality? Is the BJP sending out a signal, to whoever it wants, on the eve of Gujarat elections? If so, what is the signal? But you need a classified cryptographer to decode what the BJP is saying even when it is talking straight these days. So to decipher the hidden meanings in camouflaged offerings is a daunting task.

But what is clear is that Advani, who had slipped from favour in the aftermath of his ill-conceived utterings on Mohammad Ali Jinnah after a visit of bonhomie to Pakistan, has got back to his position of primacy in the brigade. The forces that were working to unseat him have either not succeeded or, to put it in its corollary, Advani has managed to weather out his opponents in the ranks. The RSS, which gives the cerebral succour and emotional underpinning to the BJP, has much faith in this faithful warrior, and that has actually worked in his favour. If Vajpayee was seen as something of an acceptable compromise between hardliners and middle-pathers in the 90s, then Advani in a sense represents the next version of it now. He is no longer the hard-core extreme advocate of Hindu ideology that he was at his prime. Age and the compulsions of realpolitik have mellowed this genteel giant who had manfully helped build up the party from being a fringe operator in Hindi heartland to a acceptable national-level player.

Amidst all the happy slaps in the back, the disturbing question that lingers unasked is: Did the BJP hurry into a decision, and eventually its announcement, on Gujarat poll eve just to prevent Narendra Modi staking his claim? The BJP is obviously keen to delink the announcement from Gujarat and Modi. 'This is the imagination of a fertile mind. The consultation process was over in the party and the announcement was made,' the BJP has already said. Still, should Modi triumph in Gujarat, the stage will be much more intriguing. The pressure that his victory will bring to bear upon the 80-year-old veteran will be doubtless enormous. Modi's freshness (in terms of political age) and his forthrightness will make a compelling case for him to be catapulted into the centrestage. Would the BJP have a rethink then? The answer is in the cocoon of time.

(Agencies)