BJP closes ranks behind Advani

Facing an existential crisis over a host of reasons,the BJP found a godsend in the findings of the Liberhan Commission Report.

Facing an existential crisis over a host of reasons,from transition to a younger generation to the primacy of ideology in the party,the BJP on Monday found a godsend in the findings of the Liberhan Commission Report. After The Indian Express broke the story on the contents of the report,the entire BJP rallied behind L K Advani,the principal architect of the Ayodhya agitation,who has been indicted,among others,by the Liberhan Commission on the Babri demolition.

Sources said Advani conveyed to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat the findings of The Indian Express story early in the day,and had a chat with senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi,another leader to have been indicted by the Commission. The Commissions findings,meanwhile,acted as glue for the Sangh Parivar lately caught between an internecine factional war in the party on one hand and tensions due to the altered RSS-BJP dynamics on the other. Speaking in the House,Advani addressed the concerns of the BJP as also the RSS affiliates. While he hit out at the Commission for mentioning the name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the report he also said that the BJP,RSS and VHP leaders had tried to stop the demolition and that Ashok Singhal,who was the biggest VHP leader then also got manhandled in the process.

It was not meticulously planned,as it is being said. After this incident Babri demolition,I myself said that it was the saddest day in my life. This is what I said before the Liberhan Commission. I demand that the report be tabled in the House immediately, Advani said in the House,even as he asserted that he was proud of his association with the Ayodhya movement and that it was a long-cherished dream for him that a grand temple is built at Ayodhya. He added that he would continue to work for it.

Advani held meetings with party leaders M Venkaiah Naidu,Arun Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj and others,and the BJP then collectively decided to adopt an aggressive stand on the Liberhan findings making the party speak in one voice,that incidentally also found favour with the RSS. The BJP Parliamentary Party will meet on Tuesday to decide its future course of action.

As soon as the Lok Sabha convened on Monday,Advani gave a notice for suspension of the Question Hour - he invoked this parliamentary privilege for the first time in his parliamentary career to discuss the leak even as the party fielded its entire second-rung leadership to question the timing and motive of the leak. BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley,in their respective interventions,said that the government didnt want a discussion on issues like the Madhu Koda scam and price rise,and hence the diversionary tactics in form of the leak.