The Media Did It!

After such knowledge, what forgiveness? Think now
History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors
And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,
Guides us by vanities. Think now.

-- T.S. Eliot, Gerontion

And now, expectedly, comes the "clarification" from Mr Advanitoday. When the resignation soap-opera has transformed into a VHP loud mouthcontest.

This was on expected lines, as indeed had been pointed out by BJP spinmeisters who had been too late in getting their act together, much afterthe controversy had snow-balled and the soap-opera had hit the prime timetelevision.

And what was the explanation?

That Mr Advani had earlier in February 2004 also referred to the same August 11, 1947 speechby Jinnah: "At that time also, I read the full text of Jinnah's speech, but there was no uproar thattime and perhaps the media failed to take note then."

Perhaps Mr Advani should then explain why there was an uproar thistime? Why did his party gets its knickers in a twist and could not bring itselfto say this much all the time while he was still in Pakistan or, for thatmatter, on his return when the soap-opera became a full-fledged crisis?

Indeed, why then did his party not make the full text even of what hehad written in the visitor's book at the Jinnah mausoleum, available to thepress immediately? Why, indeed, was the Karachi speech of a day later, where MrAdvani went to some length to explain his remarks, not made available to thepress immediately and only later put up on the party website? [Please seethe postscript added later to CracksIn The Parivar or PartitionOf A Party]. The media made them lose their parsing ability?

What exactly were Mr Advani's protégés so afraid of? Why couldn't they justtell the press what Mr Advani and his aid told them he had said in Pakistan? Whydidn't Mr Advani simply finish the controversy by simply saying this much on hisreturn?

The press said what it did because the BJP was in a funk,shell-shocked and stunned at the very mention of the word Jinnah and, by itsequivocation, made it transparent that it was deeply divided, united only in thewhispering ambitions of all its TV stars. In fact, leaving aside Mr Vajpayee andJaswant Singh who did not find anything wrong in what Mr Advani had said, therest of the party was clearly unanimous in dissociating itself even from MrAdvani's careful formulations that became controversial. All that while when theVHP was calling him a traitor and far worse and the RSS was expressing "theanger" of its cadre.

If, indeed, there was no problem with the Jinnah speech, why the whole"resignation drama"?

Mr Advani's resignation, it is clear, was because his party did not only refuseto back his statements, but even tried, strangely, to stop those statements frombeing made public. Which is what confounded the confusion and chaos thatresulted in all those bon mots, and various to-ings and fro-ings to MrAdvani and Mr Joshi over the tortured resolution that the party had topass.

[Going by the mail received on the two-nation theory, it seems that perhapssome of our readers missed the comment we had added at the end of the BJPStatement of June 10: which was available only as a pop-up from EnduringMyths, Closed Minds].

It would only perhaps get Mr Advani into more trouble with the RSS and theVHP to persist and ask for clarifications: Does he find Savarkar's formulationson the two-nation theory repugnant as well? What does he have to say on theSarsanghchalak's recent remarks about prostitutes and politics? Or the variousVHP resolutions? But it would be nice to hear from those who actually wereresponsible for drafting the BJPresolution of June 10, without the usual dodges.

Meanwhile, we should perhaps be grateful that Mr Advani's commitment to thepeace-press is intact; he has done well to once again reiterate Pakistan'ssovereignty and that the "Akhand Bharat" as a concept has now changedwith time to the wish for a confederation: "If Europe can become one, may trust between India and Pakistan grow and the gap will be bridged." Perhaps we can just say, "Inshallah!"