BJP dilemma: Advani big picture vs Sangh’s lenses

With the BJP central office bearers and parliamentary board adopting a formal resolution ‘‘unequivocally rejecting’’ Advani’s resignation and Advani postponing a final decision until tomorrow, hectic efforts have begun to work out a face-saving formula, well placed sources said.

However, working out the contours of a compromise is not going to be easy because it has to meet two seemingly irreconcilable objectives—it must not appear like a climbdown by Advani but neither should it construe a confrontation with the Sangh. If it fails to achieve this difficult balancing act by the time the BJP top brass holds its scheduled meeting tomorrow evening, Advani’s resignation would be final, paving the way for the next act—kaun banega agla adhyaksh—of the drama.

As far as today’s Act One, Scene Two was concerned, the ‘‘window of hope’’ opened out after Advani initially shut the door on compromise. Advani, sources close to him confirmed, was not enthused by the formal resolution adopted by the BJP leadership. Although the resolution, on the same lines as the statement read out by Venkaiah Naidu yesterday, showered praises on Advani’s ‘‘unparalleled contribution to our ideology’’ and once again condemned the ‘‘highly objectionable language’’ used by VHP leaders against their chief, it made no mention of the controversy that led to Advani’s resignation.

But contrary to reports that Advani wanted the BJP to stand by his comments on Jinnah, his main grouse was that the ‘‘enormous importance’’ of his Pakistan visit was totally overshadowed by the Jinnah controversy. By not making any mention of the visit in the resolution, the BJP too was indirectly endorsing the VHP and RSS attack on his remarks without understanding ‘‘the context’’ in which they were made, sources close to the BJP chief said.

Advani is believed to have underlined that his appreciation of some aspects of Jinnah’s life did not make him an admirer of ‘‘Jinnah in his totality’’.

Moreover, his reference to Jinnah’s 1947 speech was directed at the Pakistani establishment and people—a subtle reminder that their own founder had espoused a secular state.

The Advani camp now concedes that the subtlety was completely lost on its target audience and boomeranged on him back in India as a shell shocked Sangh Parivar—not exactly known for its understanding of matters subtle or nuanced—blasted him for committing blasphemy.

Another reason Advani chose to speak on the positive aspects of Jinnah was because he could hardly criticise the founder of Pakistan on that nation’s soil, especially since he had gone there to forward the ‘‘peace process’’ initiated by the Vajpayee government, his camp followers said.

But that does not mean that Advani has suddenly become an admirer of Jinnah—he remains critical of many things the Qaid-e-Azam stood for but made a selective appraisal in the context of the time and place he was spea- king in.

The real challenge before the draftsmen in the party, sources said, was to work out the draft of another resolution that would appreciate the ‘‘momentous’’ nature of Advani’s week-long Pakistan visit without endorsing his comments on Jinnah—but without condemning them either.

However, with most BJP leaders and almost the entire rank and file not willing to defy the RSS on the Jinnah issue, any compromise which smacks of defiance of the Sangh line could also be rejected by the parliamentary board, sources said.