Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is absolutely right when he pillories BJP leader LK Advani as being a man of wax inside, ready to melt at the slightest provocation. If the demolition of the Babri Masjid was the saddest day of his life, as Advani has been quoted as saying often enough, how does he reconcile this with his rath yatra and the party’s campaign for a Ram mandir? The party has been able to paper over these contradictions only because it had a man like Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the helm — like the late PV Narasimha Rao, he could straddle contradictory viewpoints with great skill. Rao would practice capitalism while espousing socialism; Vajpayee would talk swadeshi while bringing in videshi. Neither was a hypocrite, both did it for the larger good of the country. Advani does not have the ability to paper over the contradictions, but does any other leader in the BJP?
Anand Jain, New Delhi
Readers should write to:
The Editor, Business Standard,
Nehru House,
4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
New Delhi 110 002,
Fax: (011) 23720201;
letters@bsmail.in
