LK Advani and the debate on nationalism
Amid the raging debate over hyper-nationalism in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, veteran BJP leader L K Advani sought to temper the party’s position, saying it never saw its critics as enemies or anti-nationals. Timed as his blog was after his benching from Gandhinagar, the seat in Gujarat he held since 1998, it was seen as an attempt to poke the party’s current leadership that has made muscular nationalism a poll plank.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to take the sting away, tweeting that Advani had summed up the true essence of the party. As for Advani’s message, there was little evidence of it having softened the party’s line, as the leadership kept hammering away at the opposition, claiming some people lose their sleep when India hits back at terrorists.
The quarrel was not so much about the BJP’s tough line on terror but its articulation, especially by leaders lower down the value chain. One of them said, “If you are anti-Modi, you are anti-India,” which reminded one of D K Barooah’s infamous one-liner on the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the height of Emergency: “India is Indira and Indira is India.”
Also, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s “Modi ki Sena” (Modi’s army) remark drew a stinging riposte from fellow party leader and former Army Chief Gen V K Singh, who said the Army belonged to the nation and not to any individual.
Advani’s counsel came days before the party’s foundation day celebrations, but his message got coloured in the rough and tumble of the polls. He has been known to be unhappy as he was denied the party ticket. But at 91, he ought to have gracefully stepped away.
Another leader on the same boat is Murli Manohar Joshi (85), who, too, has not been given a ticket. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was more tactful, writing to party chief Amit Shah saying she does not want a ticket as she will soon turn 76.
Whether or not they will be okay with staying in the periphery remains to be seen.