L K Advani steps into sunset of discontent

17 May 2009,

NEW DELHI: The L K Advani era has set. With results derailing BJP's power bid, a change of guard in BJP is inevitable. Advani is expected to step down as Leader of Opposition soon though an unclear pecking order could delay matters for a while.

After a long career in politics, during which he pitched Hindutva as a mainstream political thought, Advani's shot at the top job has fallen way short of target. BJP will soon have to address a generational change in the party — a fraught task given the competing claims.

Buzzing with activity till the morning hours, BJP prime ministerial candidate L K Advani's residence wore a deserted look as news of NDA's poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls trickled in. The scene reflected the exact mood in the party, which expected to make it as the single largest over Congress, even if there were doubts on whether it could cobble up enough numbers to form the government.

If the defeat five years ago hurt because it came as a surprise, the party was shocked on Saturday by the scale of Congress's victory which has settled the debate as to which is the country's number one political formation.

Typically, it will raise debate on the merits of ideological purity and pragmatism, with Hindutva hardliners backed by their comrades in the RSS pinning the blame on dilution of the brand under Advani. Many in the party fear that the dispute is going to sap the organisational energy and keep it from functioning as the main opposition.

The shrinkage carries with it the risk of the leadership being unable to forge a majority agenda because of the pressure from hardliners to cater to the biases of the base and protect the coherence of the brand. Coupled with this is the problem of succession and renewed factional bloodletting.

By afternoon, Advani had decided to step down as Leader of Opposition and asked the party's parliamentary board to choose a new leader. This exercise in itself is bound to start a war among second rung leaders in the party as seniors such as Jaswant Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi have all been elected to the lower House.

The problem is deeper and goes beyond who takes over as Leader of Opposition. Even as Advani fades into the political sunset, there is no automatic successor in sight. Narendra Modi's claim to be the natural successor was never acceptable to many. But the resistance will increase because of Congress's success in averting a mauling in Gujarat and Modi's failure to translate his Hindutva warrior image into votes outside Gujarat.

There was also the issue of unsettled dynamics between party president Rajnath Singh and his colleagues, including Advani. The party president lacks acceptance with many, but is sure to insist on hanging on now that the exit of Advani is imminent.

A blame game was already on with party strategists suddenly acknowledging that that projection of Narendra Modi as a future PM in the midst of electioneering was an "error of judgement". "It is a collective failure," BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said.