Battling Home

Party sources say that Advani is miffed with the way in which the prime minister has snubbed the Gujarat government and Narendra Modi during his trip to the state last fortnight. Particularly galling is the reference to ‘rajdharma’ which Vajpayee wanted Modi to follow while administering justice. Last week, Advani drove down to the RSS headquarters in Delhi’s Jhandewalan to meet Madan Dass Devi, the RSS pointsman. While contents of the discussion have not been made public, the home minister is said to be very upset with the way the Gujarat government is being collared not just by Opposition members and NDA allies, but also by senior party functionaries like Shanta Kumar from within the fold as well.

Advani’s anger has been triggered by Vajpayee’s statement on Modi which has added fuel to the fire. It prompted all and sundry to take potshots at Modi and the Gujarat government for its role in the riots there. Advani is perhaps also echoing the RSS line on Gujarat which says that while there could have been "administrative lapses" on the part of the Modi government, to accuse it of backing the riots is patently incorrect and playing into the Oppositions’ hands.

The home minister’s predicament is complete. He cannot either publicly attack or defend his protegé, Modi. Since his return from Gujarat and the avalanche of media criticism that has followed, the BJP strongman has gone into a shell. The only exception was the recently-held National Union of Journalists meeting in Tirupati where Advani instead blamed the media for misreporting Gujarat and adding to problems there. Implied in the statement is a clean chit to Modi.