One man barmy

It is only a matter of time before the BJP sacks L.K. Advani as its president. After his ideological serial suicide in Pakistan, there is, r...

It is only a matter of time before the BJP sacks L.K. Advani as its president. After his ideological serial suicide in Pakistan, there is, really, no option. Advani8217;s nostalgia trip has done incalculable damage to the party, and to the larger idea of Hindu politics. In a sense, the movement is back to where it was in 1985, defeated electorally, burdened by a confused leadership, having put off the core voter in an individual8217;s embarrassing search for cheap applause.

Advani committed four cardinal errors in Pakistan. Asked about December 6, 1992, he repeated it was the 8216;8216;saddest day8217;8217; of his life. Fair enough; the demolition in Ayodhya was, in the end, a breach of the rule of law. In that narrow sense, it could have made no conservative happy.

Yet, Advani did not feel it worth his while to explain or justify the Ram movement, the processes that led to the Hindu anger that culminated, admittedly with all its angularities, in 1992. Gandhiji didn8217;t approve of Chauri Chaura, but that didn8217;t mean he repudiated the entire freedom movement.

In contrast, what has Advani done? On June 5, he was quoted as saying, 8216;8216;I am a victim of a wide gap between my image and the real self 8230; That image has not been caused by what I have said but by people associated with the movement I led, and attributed to me.8217;8217;

In two sentences, Advani disowned all those who participated in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement or found a cogency to the 8216;8216;minorityism8217;8217; argument. It was a strange act, but no stranger than the man8217;s discovery of secularism at the age of 78.

In between these two references, Advani unveiled the 8216;8216;Pakistani inside8217;8217; him. He also decided what was true for him was true for a billion others. If these statements shook the BJP8217;s adherents, the final straw was the certificate to Jinnah. It was an affront to all Indians, so much so that even the Congress was hard put to agree.

Forget the minor matter of Partition8217;s refugees. In calling Jinnah and the nation state he founded secular, what message was Advani sending those Indian Muslims who disagreed with the Muslim League, said they believed in a united India and stayed back? Was he saying he valued Jinnah as much as he valued them?

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Some have been tempted to compare Advani8217;s pilgrimage to Jinnah8217;s grave to Atal Bihari Vajpayee8217;s visit to the Minar-e-Pakistan in 1999. Both, it is said, recognised the sovereignty of Pakistan.

There is one crucial difference. In visiting the Minar, Vajpayee was saying history could not be rewritten. In personalising his politics, what Advani has said is this: I can8217;t rewrite history, and I don8217;t even want to disagree with it.

Give credit where it8217;s due. It8217;s been a dream-like week for Pakistani diplomacy. The leader of India8217;s 8216;8216;rightwing8217;8217; party has come and gone gooey and maudlin over a simple visit. If he can8217;t handle a summer holiday 8212; one at least two senior diplomats warned him against taking 8212; can this man ever be equal to a genuine prime ministerial crisis? Manmohan Singh has his family roots in Pakistan too. It is a fair bet that he won8217;t make such a spectacle of himself if he crosses the Wagah.

That aside, the Hurriyat visit and Pervez Musharraf8217;s response to it have sounded warning signals. The general announced that since the Hurriyat leaders hadn8217;t used Indian passports, it was recognition by both countries of the 8216;8216;disputed status of IhK Indian-held Kashmir8217;8217;. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir presumably has an undisputed status.

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Just before Musharraf8217;s remarks, Yasin Malik had addressed the 8216;8216;elected8217;8217; assembly of 8216;8216;Azad Kashmir8217;8217;: 8216;8216;Yeh dharti dhad dhad dahlegi/ Sarkaar par bijli bijli kadkegi/ Hum dekhenge/ Na taj rahega, na sartaaj/ Hum dekhenge/ Sirf naam rahega Allah ka.8217;8217;

What is the underlying message? A pan-Kashmir Muslim identity is being emphasised. See this in conjunction with Musharraf8217;s urging of a 8216;8216;soft border8217;8217; 8212; he means a soft LoC, not a soft Radcliffe Line.

Willy-nilly a geographically contiguous, non-Indian zone is being promoted. This 8216;8216;PoK plus IhK8217;8217; will be notionally free of Pakistan, but will take the Valley out of Indian control. It will amount to, plainly, a third Muslim territory being carved out of pre-1947 India.

This is a moment for calibrated, crafted negotiation by India, to further the peace initiative and yet save the gains of 58 years. It requires a careful government-opposition waltz, with one doing the talking, the other voicing the mainstream domestic opinion that vetos an unacceptable solution.

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In other words, it requires a clear-headed BJP president 8212; not one who appears on television, wearing a shiny red cap and dancing on stage with Pakistani folk artistes. This comic presence is the Hindu hardliner? The ISI must be in shock.