People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

Advani Episode: Crisis In Saffron Gets Deeper

AS we go to press, the unfolding drama of L K Advani's resignation as the BJP president is becoming curiouser and curiouser. Advani has rejected the BJP parliamentary board’s request to reconsider his resignation and was expected to formally respond on June 9 evening. The BJP parliamentary board is now to meet again to take stock of the situation. Whatever may be the outcome, however, the fact remains that the crisis in the RSS/BJP led saffron brigade is getting deeper.

Clearly, the crisis in the BJP and the entire saffron brigade has intensified to a point of culmination. Following the debacle in the 2004 general elections the saffron combination has not been able to come to terms with the results. Further, it has not been able to come to any conclusion regarding the reasons for its defeat. The dramatic developments now taking place in the BJP must be seen also in the background of the RSS chief Sudarshan's public demand that the senior leaders of the BJP like Vajpayee and Advani must give way to the next generation. That the RSS controls all the other organisations of the saffron brigade is now established once again.

On many occasions in these columns had we recollected that following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, when the RSS was banned and later prohibited from participating in political activity, it was seeking alternative ways to propagate its pernicious political project of converting the secular democratic Indian republic into a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra.”  In 1951, when Shyama Prasad Mukherjee resigned from the Nehru cabinet and was in the process of forming a new political party, the RSS had sent amongst others A B Vajpayee, L K Advani, S S Bhandari and late Deendayal Upadhyaya to assist this process. Thus was born the Janasangh. Since then, the latter and its subsequent avatar, the BJP, functioned as the political arm of the RSS.  Its essential purpose was to further the RSS project of converting India into a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra.” Thus there was never any doubt as to who controls the BJP and the other outfits of the saffron brigade. 

Therefore, when the RSS chief had pronounced that the older leadership must give way to the younger generation, the change was imminent sooner than later.

This change has now come in a dramatic fashion. The centre of controversy, leading to the resignation of L K Advani, has been his comments on Jinnah. To be fair, Advani never directly referred to Jinnah as a secularist. He quoted Jinnah's speech of August 11, 1947 to establish that Pakistan should accordingly be a secular state. 

A charitable interpretation of this reference to Jinnah's speech is being attributed to Advani's effort to chastise Pakistan as deviating from Jinnah's vision. Indirectly, we are being told, Advani was advising the Pakistani political leadership to correct this deviation. Such subtlety, if ever it was intended, however, did not find either approval or acceptance by the RSS and the likes of the VHP. It was clearly interpreted as an approval being given by Advani to Jinnah and his two-nation theory. The RSS continues to propagate its slogan of "Akhanda Bharat," which includes both Bangladesh and Pakistan, as part of its vision of "Hindu Rashtra.” In the past Advani himself used to describe Pakistan as a "venal state.” Given the decades of such hate campaign, the RSS refused to accept Advani's overtures in Pakistan. For the RSS, anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan are synonymous. For achieving its objective, the RSS requires to constantly whip up anti-Muslim sentiments and sharpen communal polarisation. 

Yet another interpretation being given is that Advani, in a diabolical manner, sought to establish the secular credentials of the RSS and its leaders in India by characterising Jinnah as a secular person. If Jinnah, despite his two-nation theory and the consequent partition of the country, can be described as a secularist, then Savarkar who propounded the two-nation theory full two years before Jinnah is a patriot while Advani & Co. are secular! 

When the saffron brigade raised a hue and cry Advani, in a defiant mood, called for a debate on what he had said. He categorically refused to either review or retract from anything that he had said or done in Pakistan. Following his resignation, the RSS has declared that the debate has ended! 

There are other issues as well that the saffron brigade has taken offence to.  Advani's regret over the demolition of Babri Masjid on Pakistan soil seems to have offended the RSS no end. His praise of General Musharraf and of the Pakistan Army in furthering the peace process with India obviously did not go down well with the likes of Narendra Modi whose entire political campaign is focused on railing "Mian Musharraf" to whip up communal passions. Further, his statements and comments on the ongoing peace process are being seen by the saffron brigade as muting the criticism against the Manmohan Singh government's efforts. 

Those political commentators who are seeking to theorise that Advani is attempting to shift the BJP into a more liberal frame must remember what we stated earlier --- that the BJP functions merely as the political arm of the RSS. This being the case, the RSS's efforts to regain the control of state power in India by taking recourse to whipping up inflammatory communal tensions and strife sends ominous threats to India's unity and integrity. All Indian patriots who cherish the secular democratic foundations of the modern Indian republic must be vigilant to face these dangers. Like in the 2004 general elections, the Indian people must now again, and more forcefully, come forward to defend and safeguard the republic.