National

Advani's Boomerang

Has the home minister become a prisoner of his hawkish image?

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Advani's Boomerang
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EVEN his most ardent admirers are on the defensive and his closest advisors have pointed out to Union home minister L.K. Advani that by stating (like he did in Parliament last week) he would "step down if the killings in Jammu and Kashmir continue", he may not be well-received by those battling Pakistan-aided insurgents on the ground.

While security and defence personnel feel that such remarks only provide an incentive to militants to intensify their attack on "soft targets", those in the Opposition such as former minister of state for home Rajesh Pilot accuse Advani of not realising "the negative impact of these off-the-cuff remarks". Perhaps former home secretary N.N. Vohra, who feels that "there is not much point focusing on individuals in such cases", puts the issue in the right perspective. But even he feels that "such serious internal security problems generated by the ISI cannot be dealt with on the basis of day-to-day and incident-to-incident responses."

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The trouble for the home minister is that this comes only a couple of months after his "advice" to Pakistan vis-a-vis their waging a proxy war over Kashmir to take note of the changed geostrategic balance in the region after India's nuclear blasts. A remark that was criticised for "effectively internationalising Kashmir". And the confusion over whether the BJP's "proactive policy" on Kashmir would include hot pursuit (into Pakistani territory).

Senior home ministry officials, while swearing by "the best home minister we have worked under in recent memory," do admit these incidents have queered the pitch. And most seem agreed that Advani is reacting like he is, at least in part, because he is a prisoner of his own hardline image. "This is the man, after all, who through his years in Opposition was at his most strident on Kashmir and accused the government of the day of lacking the political will to combat militancy. Now that he is home minister, as a man of integrity, he has to say he will step down if the killings do not stop," says a bureaucrat who works with Advani. "By his own logic, Advaniji should either concede that when he accused others of lacking the will he was just doing his duty as an Opposition leader, or admit that he too is lacking in will," says Pilot, accusing the government of "failing miserably" to contain militancy.

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Of course, the pressures on the man for whom it is an article of faith to ensure that India is not looked upon as a "soft state" are many. A section of the Sangh parivar is clamouring for "visible action", while senior Army and civil authorities emphasise that restraint in words is the only way proactive action can be successfully undertaken. That is what Advani's aides hope will be his approach.

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