National

The Man Who Wouldn't Be Prime Minister

L.K. Advani's content on the sidelines, leaving Vajpayee centrestage,for now

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The Man Who Wouldn't Be Prime Minister
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Advani betrays no visible trace of bitterness; many are surprised to still find him there, cheering from the sidelines. But the fact that Vajpayee is steadily replacing him as the fulcrum around which the BJP's politics revolves,the Vajpayee-centric campaign, the burgeoning personality cult and his increasing clout,has left Advani looking increasingly isolated. Relegated, as it were, to the secondary pantheon of saffron deities because there's room for only one at the top. At least for the moment.

Advani's precise, measured tones were temporarily cast aside as he told Outlook that what 'really hurts are stories portraying me as the man-who-would-be-PM'. But he conceded that criticism of the BJP's personality-centric campaign 'could be made' and that there 'are contradictions' in the route the party has adopted over the past two years, which has taken a Vajpayee-led BJP to power . Yet, he avers, that the path the BJP has taken is what the country needs at the moment, voicing his support for Vajpayee.

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The man who would not be PM, he perhaps is. But the marginalisation of Advani,self-inflicted if it is,continues apace. And never has this been brought out in sharper relief than on August 16 in Delhi at the nda manifesto release. 'There is a moratorium on all contentious issues,' announced Jaswant Singh, his stentorian tones bouncing off the elaborate shamiana put up for the occasion. Then, it was the PM's turn. Asked why the BJP didn't exclude these issues (including the mandir, the abrogation of Article 370 and the promulgation of a uniform civil code) from its agenda, he replied: 'This is a first, very definite step. We will ensure that these issues are not raised.' But when pressed to say if he was in favour of a permanent dropping of these issues, Vajpayee quickly qualified: 'We will wait for further developments.' Just as Advani doesn't give a time-frame for how long he thinks 'governance sans ideology' is essential for India.

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The fact that Advani,who's built the BJP brick by Hindutva brick over the past decade,didn't look too perturbed is neither here nor there. His 'political assessment' may well be that this is the course which will help the cause in the long run; his aides insist he's willing to go along with Vajpayee though perhaps for different reasons. While the PM may be interested in converting the BJP into a post-independence Congress, Advani's been clear (as he told Outlook in an interview before the '98 elections) that the nature of the BJP precludes it from becoming an 'umbrella organisation; a hold-all for various ideologies'. His men say he's nudging the BJP into becoming a 'modern, right-wing nationalist party' which will enable it to rule the country effectively and occupy the political space. Which will simultaneously provide the Sangh (and its affiliates) an opportunity to return to its original charter as a socio-cultural organisation engaged in 'building the character of the nation'. (Or, as its critics argue, 'brainwashing Indians into conforming to a regimented society'.) It follows that whether the 'contentious issues' are retained or dropped then becomes only a tactical decision.

There is unease in the Sangh parivar. Vajpayee loyalists claim that the 'rss has been contained', once Vajpayee brings them back to power Advani will be just another,if very important,minister on his team and that the 'transformation of the BJP into a party of governance' is an Advani-Vajpayee project. As proof, they cite the changed emphasis of Keshubhai Patel and Kalyan Singh,both considered hardliners till late,on governance. But then, revivalism isn't so easy to bury. Nor is there an obvious desire on the part of a cadre weaned on Hindutva to do so. Asked if he was in favour of jettisoning the party's 'distinctiveness', a BJP general secretary told Outlook, 'When a smoker is sitting in a room full of non-smokers, he restrains himself even if the urge comes. And lights up when they've left the room!' Others have a stock reply: 'Why discuss what is not on at the moment?' The prospect of power may have blunted the Vajpayee vs Sangh edge for now, but if the BJP returns to power, any precipitate move may begin the battle afresh. Say, if Vajpayee moves to change the BJP agenda, or the vhp goes ahead with its Ayodhya plans by 2001. Insiders concede it is impossible to say how this will turn out.

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But that is for the future. At present, many of his supporters are livid at his being 'reduced to a candidate from Gandhinagar' as the formidable BJP machinery concentrates on projecting ,Atalji'. Vajpayee supporters are being particularly sensitive to murmurs that the rss may not campaign wholeheartedly. Surprisingly, lka himself seems to be enjoying himself; for a leader who contested his first Lok Sabha elections in '89, he's been getting into the spirit of things, campaigning in Gandhinagar. From riding variously a horse, a bullock-cart and a flower-bedecked jeep to the venue of his public meetings, to patting kids on their heads and getting a laugh out of his constituents with one-liners.

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Even stranger, when you consider that this is the man who,agree with him or vehemently disagree,along with V.P. Singh, has been instrumental in engendering a paradigm shift in Indian politics in the last decade of the millennium. And probably knows better than most that the shotgun marriage of the South Asian psyche with the Westminster model of governance has ensured that once enthroned, the King Is All. King-makers are rarely feted in the subcontinent. The hoary tradition of party politics in independent India has thrown up many such examples, Sardar Patel being the first.

Perhaps that is the key,his endeavour to prove that his 'political assessment' to further the cause means that in his own mind he will probably always be the victor. Some of those closest to Advani have often pointed out that he seems more interested in 'changing India rather than ruling her'. In the process, he seems to have taken the desire to overturn the 'wrongs' inflicted on the Sardar by history too much to heart. In attempting to prove that unlike the Congress the BJP will never forget, he may be giving far more credit to his tribe than is its due.

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