In Advani Versus BJP, Now, The Winner Is RSS Chief

By Sanjay Singh / Delhi

In the end LK Advani’s resignation proved to be more of an emotional outburst than a well thought out tough call by a seasoned political leader. What exploded like a bomb ended in a whimper, supposedly to the satisfaction of all concerned.

The BJP veteran has not spoken a word on his reconciliation with the party. While the actual details of the `deal’ has not come out yet, but from what came out of a brief public statement made by the party president Rajnath Singh at his residence, he seems to have gained only a fraction of what he aspired for and lost much.
In this 30-hour long crisis in the BJP, there appears to be only one big gainer – the ideological fountainhead of the party, the RSS. Ironically, Advani has always been opposed to the RSS’s control over the BJP and its attempts to micromanage the BJP, an attempt that started in 2005.

A 119-word statement read out by Rajnath Singh at Advani’s residence in the presence of a host of leaders, including the two whose cause Advani had lately been promoting, read: “The BJP Parliamentary Board yesterday decided not to accept Shri L.K. Advani’s resignation from the three main fora of the Party – the National Executive, Parliamentary Board and Election Committee and requested him to continue to be a member of these three Bodies.”

“On behalf of the party Shri Rajnath Singh assured Shri Advani that his concerns about the functioning of the Party would be properly addressed and the President will discuss the modalities of addressing these concerns with Shri Advani. Today afternoon, RSS Sarsanghchalak, Shri Mohan Bhagwat spoke to Shri Advani and asked him to respect the BJP Parliamentary Board decision and continue to guide the Party in national interest. Shri Advani has decided to accept Shri Bhagwat’s advice.”

What is significant in the statement is that Bhagwat “asked” Advani to respect the parliamentary board’s decision, not “requested”. It almost amounts to the RSS chief directing the BJP patriarch, the senior most serving Swayamsewak to quickly reconcile, without much fuss and withdraw his resignation. And the statement ends by suggesting that Advani quietly abided by the wishes of the RSS.

This could not be healthy either for Advani or for the BJP. Advani had so far withstood various pulls and pressures from the RSS and was the only leader who was resisting complete takeover of the BJP by a group that lived in Nagpur.

It could well be the first time when the BJP has officially admitted to the supremacy of the RSS chief in matters of the country’s main opposition party, the alternate power center in national politics. No matter how much Bhagwat and his company micromanage the BJP, the party’s and the Sangh’s official response has always been that “the RSS never interferes in matters relating to the BJP. It only advices when sought for.”

In this case, one has been given to understand officially that one phone call from the RSS chief is enough for all concerned to fall in line. That conference hall at Advani’s residence stood witness to a similar incident in June 2005 when Advani had resigned in the wake of the Jinnah controversy on his return from Pakistan. The then much-hyped second generation (now the first generation) of the BJP had capitulated to the RSS and he was “persuaded” by his party colleagues to withdraw his resignation. Few months later, in Chennai National Executive meeting, Advani as BJP president spoke of a perception that RSS kept on interfering in internal affairs of the BJP, like a monkey on its back.

Advani finally had to relinquish BJP president’s post in December 2005 and the official announcement to that effect was made at the Mumbai National Executive. Rajnath Singh was the surprise pick by the RSS for the post.

Couldn’t Advani see history repeating itself? He only will have the answers. Or perhaps it lay in the one-line in the statement that Rajnath would attend to the issues raised by him.

Advani supporters stress that he never asked for review on elevation of Narendra Modi as the BJP campaign committee chief for 2014 parliamentary elections. It was thus misleading for the media to keep talking about that. Fair point, his reservation on the manner in which Modi’s name was being pushed through. His objection was not on Modi’s nomination per se. But then politics is about perception and by now the story, repeated so many times in media of all hue that it has gone home that he was the one who was obstructing Modi’s rise.

Interestingly, just as Rajnath finished his media briefing, Narendra Modi tweeted, “I had said yesterday that Advaniji will not disappoint lakhs of karyakartas. Today, I whole heatedly welcome his decision.” Two things emerge out of that tweet: Modi’s understanding of the mind of his one time mentor, and second, Advani eventually going by the wishes of lakhs of party workers that Modi be the BJP leader and face of the campaign for next parliamentary election.

Two days ago, Modi had improved on phrase used by his colleague Arun Jaitley at a workers meeting in Goa, “well begun, half won”. Modi and his backers in the party led by Rajnath Singh can yet again repeat that and claim to be on track.