BJP sends postcards to the Sangh

L K Advani has used the Uma Bharati episode and the Kanchi Shankaracharya8217;s arrest to give an ideological coherence to the BJP in Oppos...

L K Advani has used the Uma Bharati episode and the Kanchi Shankaracharya8217;s arrest to give an ideological coherence to the BJP in Opposition. For all the turbulence that surrounded Bharati8217;s suspension and the initial delay in the BJP response to the Shankaracharya8217; arrest, Advani has finally managed to get the Sangh behind him. That was the first task that confronted him when he took over as party president for the fifth term.

At the meeting in Hardwar, where two sessions were allocated for discussion on the BJP, Advani listened in silence to the criticism heaped upon the party from regional Sangh leaders as they expressed their disillusionment with the way the party had strayed from its moorings and ignored its workers for the 8216;8216;tentwallahs8217;8217;. Advani did not sit on the dais. Venkaiah Naidu, who accompanied him, had to put up his hand to make his statement to reassure the RSS that the BJP wanted to move in step with it. The Sangh brass wanted Advani to hear directly from these leaders what they felt about the party. The BJP president heard them out; he did not utter a word in his defence.

Advani is now on the way to neutralising the Sangh8217;s reservations about him, as they were not consulted about his presidency this time. Even the more strident VHP leaders have toned down their criticism about the BJP chief. With the BJP8217;s high profile protest against the Shankaracharya8217;s arrest, the VHP and BJP stand united on an issue after a long time.

The three-day dharna is a visible manifestation of the party8217;s move towards Hindutva again. Most Hindus are waiting to see what evidence Jayalalithaa8217;s government has against the Shankaracharya, but many feel uncomfortable about the manner in which he was arrested and thrown into prison because he has represented a 2000-year old institution with which people8217;s religious emotions are involved. But it is the Brahmins who are most agitated, in Tamil Nadu and outside, and it is this crop that the BJP may harvest. It may make a marginal difference in the coming elections in Bihar and Jharkhand, but it could crucially impact UP. Even Mulayam Singh Yadav has criticised the manner of the Shankaracharya8217;s arrest. Ultimately, it is the revival of the BJP in UP which will be the acid test of Advani8217;s leadership.

Advani also utilised the Uma affair to placate the Sangh. Whatever be his feelings about the way she dared him to take disciplinary action against her, Advani knew that he had to contend with the RSS which wants the party to patch up with her. From day one, the Sangh took a neutral position between the 8216;8216;rebel8217;8217; and the party chief even though it involved an issue of discipline which has been a favourite theme with the Sangh. The RSS spokesperson criticised Advani8217;s decision to bring in the cameras at a party meeting as much as it censured Uma8217;s show of defiance.

That is why the party did not send her a show cause notice. The 8216;8216;action8217;8217; against her was highly unusual. After all, Mamata Bannerji had not gone calling on Sitaram Kesri the day after action was taken against her by the Congress president, nor did Sharad Pawar and P.A. Sangma take off for 10, Janpath, 24 hours after questioning Sonia Gandhi8217;s right to lead the party. Even within the BJP, neither Kalyan Singh nor Shankar Sinh Waghela could have soup with Advani and dinner with Vajpayee within hours of disciplinary action against them. But Uma did. She tried to make her peace with them.

The truth, of course, is that neither can the BJP do without Uma Bharati nor can Uma Bharati do without the BJP. Her return to the party fold is now in the air. Uma realises that she would become isolated 8212; not a single MLA in Madhya Pradesh went with her and those close to her began to distance themselves. For all her erratic behaviour, she is too shrewd not to realise that though she had endeared herself to the RSS leadership through her espousal of Hindutva causes, the Sangh could support her only upto a point.

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In a step by step approach, Advani is addressing the Sangh8217;s concerns about the BJP8217;s image. The decision to replace Gopinath Munde with Nitin Gadkari as Maharashtra BJP chief is as much a signal to the Sangh as it is to Uma Bharati that Advani will be even-handed. It is also a message to the likes of Pramod Mahajan 8212; Munde is his brother-in-law and the duo have exercised a powerful grip over BJP politics in Maharashtra 8212; to mend their 8220;five star style8221; of functioning. Though Mahajan is not expected to be removed as party general secretary, he has expressed a desire to reinvent himself.

The writing on the wall is clear: neither of the two main parties can come to power on their own in the foreseeable future. While Advani is going back to the BJP8217;s core constituency, he will also have to make the BJP more inclusive and widen the base of the NDA. His real challenge will be to manage the inevitable tensions between Hindutva forces and NDA allies while making the BJP even more coalitionable in the future.