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BJP gears up for elections, Advani in the saddle |
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B.I. Saini
With continuing flip-flop by the CPI(M) on the nuclear issue queering the pitch for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, and increasing the possibility of a snap poll, the BJP has started gearing itself up for the emerging scenerio in right earnest. The decision of the party to project former Deputy Prime Minister and present leader of the party in the Lok Sabha Lal Krishna Advani as its prime-ministerial candidate in the next elections is a clear indication of that.
The BJP’s compulsions are evident in the move, as Advani had been sidelined in the party on the directions of the RSS, the parent body of all Sangh outfits, two years back because it found completely unpalatable his remarks on the secular cedentials of Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. The RSS was also none too happy with Advani’s observation that interference by the RSS in BJP affairs was good neither for the Sangh nor for the BJP. Advani’s rehabilitation now, and that also virtually as the head of the party shows that there was no other option left. Now that talk of early general elections is in the air, the BJP needed a leader, who could devise a winning strategy. Advani’s credentials in this respect are impeccable. It was he, who had catapulted the BJP from just a right of centre platform in the early eighties to aggressive Hindutva, and in the process, enabled the party to head a government at the Centre for the first time.
Many people expected Advani to head the government in the nineties, when the BJP came to power for the first time, but coalitional compulsions came in the way. BJP leaders thought, and rightly so, that Atal Behari Vajpayee would be better able to carry the allies with him, so that the government could function effectively. As it hap pened, Vajpayee was able to get and retain the support of several parties, including many, which loudly proclaimed their secular agenda, far removed from the BJP line.
With the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance failing to retain power in May 2004, Advani started posioning himself for a role after the next elections, when Vajpayee would no longer be able to lead the party. His remarks about Jinnah’s secular credentials and the RSS role in the BJP’s affairs have to be seen in this context.
The RSS of course did try to find an alternative by promoting younger leaders in the party. Rajnath Singh being made the party president has to be seen in this light. But the experiment did not succeed, as evident by the BJP’s less than good show in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, from where Rajnath Singh hails.
Advani faces formidable challenges in the days ahead. First of all, he has to tone up the party and devise a winning strategy for the next Lok Sabha elections, which may come earlier than the scheduled 2009. And that too, without treading on the toes of the RSS. Advani also has to keep NDA constituents together, and if possibe, get more of them, because state level alliances may well spell the difference between victory and defeat in the next elections.
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