Aditi Phadnis: Last man standing

PLAIN POLITICS

Advani is the only leader who could tell the RSS just where its writ stopped

Lal Krishna Advani had made up his mind to speak to (as opposed to addressing) the BJP National Executive meeting 10 or 15 days before going to Chennai. A day or two before leaving, he asked his staff to type out four sheets of paper.

There were two versions of his speech: one that referred to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the other that omitted it. The rest of the speech is public now: how he proposed to step down from the presidentship of the BJP in December, how the RSS-BJP relationship should be reviewed and so on.

He debated whether to read out his speech at the inaugural "" in which case, the tone of the entire national executive would have been dominated by his letter of intent. So, he changed his mind and decided he would speak at the concluding session. He showed the draft to colleagues "" Venkaiah Naidu and Sanjay Joshi among them.

Trying to hide their dismay, they told him not to make the announcement that he was going to step down, now. And, they counselled, please don't mention the RSS.

Advani reasoned with the go-betweens, who, it now transpires, were self appointed. He explained that the Sangh expected him to quit. If he did not do so now, he would have to explain himself before the Sangh's scheduled meeting at Chitrakoot.

Otherwise, the Sangh would put a backup plan in action for his scalp. That would further undermine the autonomy of the BJP. And the Sangh hadn't changed its mind about him. They wanted him out. Or didn't they?

His colleagues said they would check with the RSS and get back to him. It was the perfect opportunity to inform RSS chief Sudarshan what Advani was contemplating.

The message that the Sangh sent was: "do your worst". His colleagues gave him a version that was diplomatic and garbled in translation: we cannot, with a clear conscience, tell you the Sangh would be unhappy if you quit. But we plead with you again, drop references to the Sangh from your speech.

Advani was noncommittal as to his course of action. Sanjay Joshi, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar heard both versions of the draft speech. They too tried to tell Advani: don't do it. He now got a little angry. His generals themselves were asking him to retreat. Jaswant Singh was the only one who told him the course of action he was following was the right one.

In his heart of hearts, Advani agreed with Singh. Yes, the BJP owed its socialisation to the RSS. But strangulation by the RSS was a non-option. There had to be a debate about where the Sangh writ should run and where it should stop.

He didn't, for instance, ask the Sangh before announcing at the party's historic meeting at Goa that Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be the BJP's candidate for prime ministership, because he felt it was superfluous. As a party involved in power politics, the decision about who should lead a coalition was up to the BJP. Similarly, it was not the Sangh that decided the BJP should go with V P Singh in 1989. It was the party that decided this in the bigger interest of Opposition unity.

In taking this decision, the BJP recognised that V P Singh despised all that the Sangh stood for but acknowledged that for tactical reasons, he too had made an effort to overcome his prejudices.

Jaswant Singh's concern was about how Advani's standing as a leader of the party would be compromised if he were seen as being irresolute. If, after all that had been said on both sides, the dragons were only going to be appeased, not confronted, what was the point? Advani could say what he thought "" after him, no one would have the courage to do so.

When Advani sat on the podium in Chennai beside Vajpayee, he asked his staff for the second draft "" that spelt out his worries about BJP-RSS relations. He handed it to Vajpayee and said in an undertone that he was going to read out the entire speech. Yes, Vajpayee nodded, it had to be read out in its entirety.

Venkaiah Naidu was sitting among the audience. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. He sent a note to Advani: "my fervent appeal to you is that you should not refer to that line".

Advani read it and wrote back to Venkaiah: "Sorry Venkaiahji, I will not be able to accommodate your request". After he had said what he said, no one stopped him, no one supported him, no one sided with him.

The RSS's plans for the BJP are clear: have a politburo-type set up so that there is greater control of the RSS over the BJP and deviations like Advani's call to the BJP to conceptually review the idea of Pakistan, do not occur.

There is indignation here that core values of the Sangh should be questioned but also fear over the consequences of an organisational overhaul. There is little doubt that as a party, the BJP's fortunes cannot dip further.

Advani's leadership of the party, it could be argued, is to blame for this. The RSS' explanation for this is: too many tactical alliances have eroded the Hindutva base of the party. So these compromises, struck to increase Lok Sabha seats, have to stop.

But what is confusing BJP workers and leaders is that they can no longer see in the RSS leadership the selflessness that used to be its hallmark. The way they interpret it, the Sangh too wants its place in the sun now. So for the BJP, while the goal of the Sangh is laudable, its motivations are no longer what they used to be.

What does all this mean on the ground? A leader like Nitish Kumar was brought into the NDA by L K Advani. It is not the RSS, which is his leader "" it is the BJP and Advani.

In Karnataka, for instance, the development and growth of the Sangh was not because of the Sangh's work "" it was because of the arrests that were made during the Emergency and groundwork done by socialist leaders that the Sangh's organisational genius was able to leverage. Advani can tell that Hindu purity is no longer the only answer in coalition politics.

Political alternatives have to be specific to specific conditions. The Sangh is unable to accept this.

Advani might step down finally in December. It will be the end of an era. But the last word on Sangh-BJP relations has not been spoken yet.