Advani’s Shah Jahan fix

Even with much weakened eyesight, Shah Jahan ruled India through her most glorious days and fought bitter war to stop his restless son Aurangzeb from ascending to the seat of power. Till the very end of Shah Jahan’s rule, India was reckoned all over as a golden bird. His indulgences and misrule in later years sowed the seeds of destruction of Indian economy. With Aurangzeb later on, the mighty Mughal empire began crumbling, not because of lack of muscle, but for chronic economic disarray.

The BJP patriarch L. K. Advani is not a Shah Jahan. The golden boy of the

RSS – Narendra Modi – is also not an Aurangzeb, either. The detractors of the UPA and Congress, in particular, may, arguably, liken Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Shah Jahan. Larger history may wait for some more time for inks to dry for chronicling events of the recent times.

But Advani, who loves to call himself a blogger, threatens to be BJP’s Shah Jahan in a political avatar. The RSS, which prides in being the moral guardian of the BJP, has reasons to believe that its arguably second best product (Advani) (best, of course, being the wheel-chair bound Atal Bihari Vajpayee) has broken the parivar dharma.

Shah Jahan was more of a titular head in his old days, with his generals, including Aurangzeb, commanding followers and power of the day. The lust for power sucked Shah Jahan. Exasperated Aurangzeb settled the matter on sword, but it was his act of turning off the tap to Red Fort, that a thirsty Shah Jahan relinquished his throne. Such a moment has, however, not arrived for the RSS to make Advani bow before the change, which is inherent in the nature.

When V. P. Singh showed signs of scripting the social engineering with his Mandal Commission to institutionalize reservation for other backward castes in jobs and educational institutions, Advani reinvented himself and emerged out of the shadow of Vajpayee. He knew that secularism in India was bogus. Hindus nursed Historical grievances and monuments provided evidences in plenty of the wrongs committed by the Muslim invaders. 

And thus embarking on a modern rath, Advani told India the stories of emotional hurts at the hands of one – Mir Baqi – and the need to build a grand temple at Ayodhya. For him everything was on the stake, but he succeeded in BJP galloping to 89 Lok Sabha seats from just two earlier.

However, when the BJP sniffed power at the Ashok Rajpath, Advani very conveniently forgot the deeds of Mir Baqi and campaign for a grand temple for Ram Lalla at Ayodhya. He did not realize but people sensed that there was a serious issue with Advani’s credibility. Ram Lalla, meanwhile, stays under a makeshift tent amidst security bandobust, which none in the world may be enjoying. 

Afterwards, political redundancy pounced upon Advani when he discovered in Islamabad that the founder of Pakistan and Muslim League leader Muhammed Ali Jinnah was secular. It may have slipped out of Advani’s mind that Jinnah was very much a fresh character in the Indian history and his deeds of political opportunism in exploiting religion in breaking India was quite known to most. The RSS did not lose much time to tell Advani that he was a poor student of history.

In an eagerness to step into the shoes of Vajpayee, Advani abandoned the image he had built tirelessly for himself. He was on the path of reinventing himself again, this time in the tradition of a Congress leader, although leaning a little bit to the right. But such a path did not exist, as BJP is not and can not be a centrist party by its very nature.

Still, Advani in the absence of any alternative got quite a long shot to shoot his arrows at the Delhi throne. But he largely misfired. He allowed wades of currency to be displayed in Lok Sabha, thus bringing condemnation from all for the acts. He chose to hit out (2009) at Manmohan Singh at a time when India adored him as an honest, knowledgeable and upright man. The BJP’s tally was 116 after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. People had given their verdict on Advani, but he refused to accept them.

For quite long Advani mentored Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively. But mentoring was shallow, as the end result was the Opposition space largely being occupied by the likes of Sharad Yadav and Mamata Banerjee. The BJP was found lacking to project a strong Opposition to the UPA, which had been hell-bent to wreck India’s economy with its corruption and misgovernance onslaught. People refused to believe that the BJP could replace the Congress.

The BJP’s flip-flop is more evident on the issue of the India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement. When Advani was the home minister he had publicly stated his views against the boundary pact but when snubbed by a joint secretary then – G. K. Pillai -- who argued that this was in India’s favour. Advani then promised to check facts. But even after a decade he is not sure whether such a pact is in India's interest or not, as he now maintains that the party can not support it because its units in Tripura and West Bengal are opposed to it.

With Vajpayee wheel-chaired, it’s to the credit of Advani that the people invariably talk of a third front coming to power after 2014 Lok Sabha polls when it's largely believed that the people would finally boot out Manmohan Singh led and scam-ridden UPA government.

Arguably, Vajpayee was one of his kind and none could step in his shoes.

Advani can still ensure his rightful place in the political history of India by admitting that he could not be a Vajpayee. In fact, none could be like Vajpayee, who was blessed with the virtue of large-heartedness.

Everyone has to sign off one day, as all things have expiry date marked on them. If Advani could do this gracefully, Rajnath Singh would have to sweat less in announcing the inevitable, whose time has arrived.

The Congress already in dread of Modi is counting on Advani to self-destruct the BJP. The regional parties are poles apart and suffer from bloated egos to defeat any prospect of third front. 

With life spent on anti-Congress political platform, Advani can not sign off by letting this party to slip back in power through back-door. 

Had Shah Jahan anointed an able successor when he was strong enough to see through the succession, the course of history of India could have been different. But lust of power knows no age even if nation suffers in the end.