Advani has always been a paradoxical figure

The lone crusade by L. K. Advani against the combined might of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has ended in a total and humiliating capitulation, a mere 36 hours after Advani first raised the banner of a revolt. His abject surrender with no substantive gains has left even his most ardent admirers aghast. The unkindest cut must however be reserved for his one-time friend Ram Jethmalani who said Advani had gone senile and was surreptitiously helping the Congress party by these self-lacerating slashes on himself and the very party he co-founded in 1980s.

The bizarre turn of events has left most political observers mystified: How has this man, described as the prime minister India never had, landed himself in such a mess? Or is there a bigger and nobler purpose behind these near-suicidal actions by the self-styled “iron man” of the BJP?

Are we missing the contours of a battle of ideas here; indeed has the drama played out in the public by TV anchors blinded us to the real reasons for this epic struggle for the very soul of the BJP? While on the surface it seems like a Narendra Modi-versus-Advani fracas, driven primarily by the older man’s vaulting ambition to become prime minister, perhaps there is a clash of ideology and nationhood that has been lost in this feud.

These recent events are laced with irony. It was precisely in Goa in 2002 that the very same Advani rescued Modi after the horrific killings in Gujarat. Vajpayee, the then prime minister, was all set to sack Modi who, as the Chief Minister, bore moral responsibility, if nothing else, for the calamity, but Advani stood firm to protect his protege who since has become the old sire’s bete noir.

To make sense of these happenings, one has to look at the long hand of the RSS, the movement that fathered the BJP. Indeed it is the testy relationship between the RSS and Advani that is at the very heart of this imbroglio. Strange as it may sound, this bond between the two was once so strong that even Vajpayee, the taller leader in the public imagination, had to take a back seat. For it was Advani who laid the foundation for the BJP’s climb to power and Vajpayee was just the facade, the outer cladding to the political structure built brick by brick by Advani.

The fallout between the RSS and Advani has a history and the denouement has ideological moorings though some hard nosed practical reasons are also fuelling this divide. The 2014 general elections have to be won and the RSS sees Modi as the silver bullet to decimate the Congress. It is beyond doubt that Modi has captured the imagination of the rank and file of the party and offers a muscular and credible option to the ageing and somewhat predictable formulations of the old guard within the BJP.

However, in this head-long pursuit of anointing Modi, the question is whether this new face of the party is acceptable to the broader electorate. It is Advani’s case that Modi is utterly devoid of a pan-Indian appeal; essentially a polarising leader who does not understand the plurality of India. And that is precisely what the alliance partners of the BJP are saying as well. So, is it possible that the old man is actually trying to save his party from defeat? Willing himself to swallow poisonous barbs from Jethmalani to head off disaster!

Advani is a paradoxical figure. He was, until very recently, a divisive figure himself, much like Modi with his strident call for upholding the Hindu belief systems. The demolition of the Babri-Masjid was his handiwork, however much he may deny any direct role in its destruction. His falling out with his alma mater — the RSS — only began in 2005 when he spoke glowingly of Mohammad Ali Jinnah during his visit to Pakistan. He extolled Jinnah as a secularist which was sacrilege to the RSS. He refused to recant and had to step down as the president of BJP.

For a man who demonised the founder of Pakistan all his life to suddenly start singing paeans of praise was simply incomprehensible. The cynical view has always been that he was doing an image make-over to refashion himself as a Vajpayee for the 2009 general elections.

To be fair to the man, there is some evidence to show he was going through a genuine baptismal change; he was earnestly in search of new roots to the civilisational beliefs ingrained in him from childhood by the shallow prophets of the Hindu Right. Advani is a creature of his times, but without doubt represents a more inclusive view of India as a nation than the RSS.

Maybe his lasting contribution will be to stop Modi dead in his tracks from becoming the next prime minister of India. Only a zealot can see the dangers of spawning another fanatic!

Ravi Menon is a Dubai-based writer working on a series of essays on India and on a public service initiative called India Talks.