The Fight Club

Advani acolytes have been putting out the line that he has struck a brave blow in the greater cause of asserting the BJP's independence from the RSS. Perhaps Advani would have carried greater credibility in this enterprise if he did not continue to flip-flop on ideological issues, donning the "secular" garb one day, chanting Jai Shri Ram the next. As a BJP MP put it, "Does Advani have the courage of his convictions or is he just an old man reluctant to relinquish power? We don't know any longer."

Given the closely enmeshed BJP-RSS relations, partymen have been compelled to adopt duplicitious positions. Take the utterances of Sushma Swaraj last week. She calmly told journalists that "no one ever asked Advani for his resignation", then avoided stating clearly whether she expected the loh purush to complete his term as president. The next day, without checking with Advani, she took the initiative of attacking NDA convenor George Fernandes for "crossing his jurisdiction" (he had asked the RSS to confine itself to socio-cultural matters and not interfere in politics).

Adding a twist to the tale are reports that the Fernandes statement was contrived by the Advani camp. Particularly as Sudheendra Kulkarni is believed to have visited Fernandes' residence the day he issued the statement. Perhaps that is why Venkaiah Naidu refused to attack the NDA convenor: "We have a special relationship with both the RSS and the NDA. The press should not worry about us." But to win some ideological brownie points with the Sangh (to offset the minus points for backing Advani), Naidu called a press conference to take a shrill posture on the imdt act. "We will run a campaign to demand the 3-D formula. Detection of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, deletion of their names from voter lists, and their deportation." Clearly, such ridiculously packaged posturing was aimed at the RSS, not the Indian public.

In the coming weeks, other ambitious second-rung leaders can also be expected to take hardline postures to please the Sangh, even as the party president claims to be engaged in a project to disengage with Nagpur. The deep neurosis currently afflicting the BJP leaders can be traced to this complex inner parivar relationship. For if Advani is indeed engaged in a mighty battle against the masters at Nagpur, then as general he must also constantly worry about desertion and subterfuge in the ranks.