As Lal Krishna Advani steps down it has been heralded as an “end of an era” and by other stock variety of clichés by the Indian media, it warrants a moment of recognition for the man who was instrumental in forming the only viable alternative political force in the history of independent era.
To come up with any sort of assessment for his impact on Indian politics his political life must be divided into three phases of pre-rathyatra, rathyatra and post-rathyatra. In pre-rathyatra phase, he definitely was a relatively marginal figure of an absolutely marginal political party. Even within the Janata government he was essentially a light weight entrusted with the Information and Broadcasting portfolio. This low stature would have run unimpeded, if it was not for the gross mismanagement of religious politics by the Congress in the late 80s. The Shahbano case and the revival of the grass roots Ayodhya movement provided a peculiar political opportunity to the BJP, and Advani must be recognized of masterfully seizing it, to ultimately challenge the status quo in the national debate over pseudo-secular politics run amok. He is the man responsible for creating and nurturing that political space for the BJP as a right of the center anti pseudo-secularism party that attended to the victimized Hindu psyche of post Shahbano India. Combine that with a remarkable set of organizational skills that catapulted the BJP from a northern Baniya party with marginal strength in the Lok Sabha to over 150 seats.
But the leap from 150-170 to 272 could never have been achieved if it was not for the personal charisma and acceptability of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the pragmatic strategist in Advani quickly and without any reluctance passed the baton of leadership to the elder statesman.
To many, that was Advani’s finest hour, years following BJP’s ascend to power went largely successful when they managed to introduce bold economic reforms, reinvigorated the relationship with the west and defeated Pakistan in a major military conflict. A huge amount of credit goes to the disciplined power sharing agreement between Vajpayee and Advani. No Indian political outfit has been able to accommodate two leader’s of similar stature with such minimal organizational friction.
However, in the post Vajpayee era, Advani got a rude shock and found the limitations of his own political appeal. On top of that his legacy was irreparably damaged by misplaced political planks such as the belief that the road to acceptability with Indian Muslims passes through Jinnah’s tomb in Karachi.
Another massive failure was the failure of Team Advani in delivering electoral successes in both 2004 and 2009. But the straw that broke camel’s back and caused Mohan Bhagwat to execute his not so secret coup, was the sheer dysfunction and suicidal factionalism that defined Delhi based Advani gang. Whatever role he might end up with in the future, he will have to live with the charge that he as a general could not command his troops and had to hand over the reins to the party to the RSS bosses as a result.
The end of this chapter in the Advani’s life should not be taken as an end of the road for the politics he helped found. Albeit less than before, the debate of cultural nationalism that he pioneered still rages on in the Indian heartland. The BJP has become an established force that occupies the space of an anchor for all non-Congress political forces. The challenge for the BJP is to control more of that space and expand its base. And in today’s politics that can only be done using stronger state units managed by ambitious leaders. It is that opportunity for Advani to re-accommodate himself within the hearts and minds of average BJP worker. Rather than creating another set of Delhi based leaders, the time is for him to mentor state leaders in states with marginal presence of the BJP such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and the northeastern states. He should get out of his Delhi comfort zone and thrust himself back into a role that develops raw talent into polished political leaders.
The time calls for this yatri not to hang his boots, but to pause and change course that will elevate his legacy as an organization man who helped give birth of a true bipolar polity in independent India. Generations to come will have to be thankful to him willingly or not, for creating a political arena with natural checks and balances.
