Click to play videoThe long, noisy crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has witnessed one surprising element. One man's voice has not been heard at all. LK Advani, one of the senior most leaders of BJP and Leader of Opposition is silent even though he has been facing attack after attack from within the party. From Jaswant Singh to Arun Shourie and even Brajesh Mishra, Advani has had guns trained on him, showcasing a serious erosion of his power.
The unceremonious sacking of Jaswant Singh from the BJP for writing a book praising Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah has added to Advani's problems. Singh has claimed that he had stood by Advani through the controversy created after he (Advani) called Jinnah a secular person.
Advani's credibility took further beating when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's aide Brajesh Mishra told CNN-IBN that Advani, who was the home minister during the Kandahar hijack (and subsequent exchange of terrorists for hostages) knew about the deal. Even Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Mohan Bhagwat hinted that the BJP needed a generational change.
The man who began the year by being the BJP's prime ministerial candidate is now about to end his career on the lowest note of his career. Should Advani have resigned when his party had crushingly lost the Lok Sabha elections? Did the octogenarian leader hang on for too long and refused to see the writing on the wall?
Face The Nation debated: Is it time for L K Advani to retire from public life?
The panel of experts comprised of BJP member of the Sheshadri Chari; Political Editor of Hindustan Times, Vinod Sharma; Deputy Editor of The HinduVidya Subramaniam and news columnist and journalist Ashok Malik.
Wrong timing, bad decisions
Why did Advani not resign after the BJP's debacle in the general elections? When the people and the youth of India did not gravitate towards him, why did Advani not make a dignified exit then?
"Although he was projected as the prime ministerial candidate, the election defeat was not primarily due to the reason that Advani was projected as the prime ministerial candidate. There were a number of other reasons," argued Sheshadri Chari. He added that Advani had taken moral responsibility of the poll defeat but the party colleagues prevailed upon him to continue.
Chari rubbished Vidya Subramaniam's comparison between Sonia Gandhi's popularity and the friction Advani faced from members of the party they respectively led. "There can be no comparisons between someone from the Gandhi family and a man who has given his life for this country," Chari said.
Vinod Sharma countered Chari's comment by saying that the power of renunciation, the power of austerity and the power of leading a very Spartan life is not something just Sonia Gandhi exhibited; it was Mahatma Gandhi who gave to this country.
"Anything that is ostentatious and clinging on to power is not liked. But I will disagree with you on the suggestion that Advani should retire from public life," said Vinod Sharma.
"John McCain (US Republican defeated by Democrat candidate Barack Obama in recent US presidential polls) has not retired from public life, neither has (former US president) Bill Clinton who recently pulled off a big victory for American diplomacy by getting two US women journalists released from North Korea. My problem with Advani is that he continues to be Leader of Opposition perhaps in search of an opportunity to anoint people of his choice to crucial positions," Sharma added.
The popular feeling is that Advani should not give up line function but should remain in the public sphere to provide guidance to the party.
Sharma felt that with so much of stiff opposition to him continuing, Advani should step down as leader of the Opposition while still continuing in some other position.
Ashok Mailk highlighted the fact that in the past week or so Advani has faced a lot of attacks from some of his old colleagues in the BJP and has certainly come out looking a little poorer and besieged. "I think the realisation is growing that Advani is a man of such a stature in the party that if he does not hold a post, his stature actually grows."
Advani needs to don a bigger role
Malik suggested that Advani can be a better anchor and transition manager to the party. Sharma pointed out that for many years in the past Advani and Vajpayee yielded powerful clout within the BJP due to their de-facto positions. The two held no posts then and yet were powerful.
Sharma warned against discarding Advani at a juncture when the BJP has no face of its ideology to help it stay afloat and that it would be a mistake to do so.
Vidya Subramaniam said the last General Elections witnessed presidential-elections like scenario where a person was projected as prime ministerial candidate. "Therefore he had a moral obligation to take responsibility," Vidya reminded.
After debating the stand of the RSS on Advani, Malik said, "I do not think it is ideological or philosophical. It is just a common Indian trait. Frankly, a lot of us do not know when to retire."
Then what is it that made Advani cling on to power within the party. Is it greed and the lust for power?
"No, no. It's not that at all. It was LK Advani who at the height of his popularity decided in Mumbai that Vajpayee and not he will be the prime minister. Is this man then greedy?" asked Chari.
Chari stressed that it is Advani who can build the party again and keep the people together.
Malik said that Advani built a great political party for the 1990s and now he needs to build a party for the 2020s.
Chari felt that this is where RSS proposal and logic that the party can be built better by younger leadership comes into play.
Sharma however shunned the RSS altogether. "The RSS intervention has weakened the BJP as a party which can lead a coalition," said Vinod Sharma.
Advani, a part of the problem not solution?
Vidya recollected how Advani who had succeeded with the fine nuanced line of trying to make the BJP independent from the RSS must himself now go to the Sangh to get his legitimacy sanctioned.
"That is too simplistic. There is a strong argument in the Sangh not having a role in the day-to-day running of the party. Frankly speaking, the Sangh doesn't want to have such a role," Malik said.
Sharma recounted that the BJP did not give similar treatment to Vajpayee after the 2004 election debacle. "Advani was not trying to chalk out a different line. No, he was trying to become a latter day Vajpayee," said Sharma.
"I am worried by the gains of the RSS, not by the loss of the BJP. I am worried that I am going to lose the principal Opposition to the RSS. It is going to get subsumed into its identity," said Sharma.
Chari refuted Sharma's claims and reminded the panel that they were not discussing the RSS. "If you want to know the democratic credentials of the RSS, there are two things...we hold regular elections. Sarsanghchalak is nominated but Sarskaryavah, who is the head of the RSS is elected. This is number one. Number two is that it was the RSS which was in the forefront of democracy during the Emergency and fought tooth and nail," Chari argued.
"It is the prerogative of the BJP to go to the RSS or they can choose to even go to the Communist Party tomorrow. It is their prerogative...BJP is not dying," Chari argued saying the party had merely two members into Parliament but has strengthened over the years.
Malik recalled how the Congress had seemed to be dying in the year 1998-99 but is a robust force today.
What will it take to get BJP back on its feet?
The panelists jointly agreed that Advani needs to move on. "What is the ideology on which the RSS wants the BJP to style itself on? You are trying to give a personality transplant to BJP," said Sharma, challenging the RSS who he said is trying to prescribe a Twenty20 ideology of youth to the BJP.
Vidya compared the 2009 election defeat of the BJP with just eight allies to the time when it had had 22 allies.
"This happened because the alliance partners realised that the Muslim vote was very important. As long as they were with the BJP they were not going to get the Muslim vote. Now if you are going to go more and more into the embrace of the RSS, how do you carry on the alliance politics?" she said.
Final results of the SMS/Web poll: Is it time for L K Advani to retire from public life?
Yes: 87 per cent
No: 13 per cent
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