The resignation of the senior leader of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Mr. Lal Krishna Advani (LKA) and its subsequent rejection and withdrawal was in the news for the last few days. It seems Mr. Advani is not happy with the direction his party is going and the way decisions are taken nowadays (without consulting him). LKA never hid his aspiration for the PM (prime minister of India) position. He always wanted to become PM but somehow destiny denied him that chance. He worked really hard to make BJP a strong political force (from just 2 seats in Loksabha in 1984 to 161 seats in 1996, and then subsequently to power in 1999). He was a central figure in the Ram Mandir movement which actually helped the BJP to attain the status of a major opposition party. He created a vote bank for them and also helped them to win the 1999 general election. But despite all his efforts and aggressive politics LKA always remained number two in BJP with Atal Bihari Vajpayee being a more acceptable face to other coalition partners of NDA (national democratic alliance).
Mr. Narendra Modi is an emerging and very popular face in national politics. He already proved his power of governance and decision-making as Gujarat's chief minister and is now aspiring for a bigger role in national politics (prime minister's post). Everyone related to Indian politics knows how much LKA wanted to become PM. He lost his chance to ABV in 1999, because LKA was considered too radical or too extremist to be a leader of a coalition front that consisted of some so-called secular parties such as TDP and JD(U) (his pro-Hindu ideology and close association with the Ram mandir movement). One can say that today NM is what LKA was a few decades back. But with a proven track record of success he achieved as Gujarat CM, gives NM a better creditability and chance to secure the top position compared to LKA. However, like LKA even NM has the tag of too radical Hindu extremist leader (more because of the Godhra incident in 2002) and there is no doubt this label will be a roadblock in his journey to achieve a wider acceptance among other partners of NDA. So, I think LKA is not happy with the fact that what he couldn't achieve some years back someone else with a similar background and credentials can achieve so easily that too in his own party. Actually, all three ABV, LKA, and NM come with RSS backgrounds, they all believe in the same ideology but for their party workers, some are more acceptable compared to others.
Mr. Narendra Modi is an emerging and very popular face in national politics. He already proved his power of governance and decision-making as Gujarat's chief minister and is now aspiring for a bigger role in national politics (prime minister's post). Everyone related to Indian politics knows how much LKA wanted to become PM. He lost his chance to ABV in 1999, because LKA was considered too radical or too extremist to be a leader of a coalition front that consisted of some so-called secular parties such as TDP and JD(U) (his pro-Hindu ideology and close association with the Ram mandir movement). One can say that today NM is what LKA was a few decades back. But with a proven track record of success he achieved as Gujarat CM, gives NM a better creditability and chance to secure the top position compared to LKA. However, like LKA even NM has the tag of too radical Hindu extremist leader (more because of the Godhra incident in 2002) and there is no doubt this label will be a roadblock in his journey to achieve a wider acceptance among other partners of NDA. So, I think LKA is not happy with the fact that what he couldn't achieve some years back someone else with a similar background and credentials can achieve so easily that too in his own party. Actually, all three ABV, LKA, and NM come with RSS backgrounds, they all believe in the same ideology but for their party workers, some are more acceptable compared to others.
I think by this time Mr. Advani must have realized that there was no point in fighting on the issue of Modi as the future leader of BJP. LKA did whatever he could to achieve success to his party, but he feels that he didn't get his due but that's how it is. In life sometimes you have to compromise. I think LKA realized this and that's why withdrew his resignation. BJP is definitely stronger with LKA with them than without him. Whether Modi can win this election or not is another big issue to discuss but right now there is a lot of buzz in the media about his name and he is very popular. It will be interesting to see how other partners of NDA react to the selection of his name. It's good that LKA realized that there was no point in stretching this drama any longer, better to be late than never. I think he made the right decision, let's see what happens next.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
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