BJP senior LK Advani has urged his party to “look back, look ahead and look within”, on the eve of its Foundation Day, in a blog that breaks a nearly five-year silence and has “democracy”, within and outside the party, more within than outside, as its motif. Advani emphasises a triad of values — satya (truth), rashtra nishtha (dedication to the nation), and loktantra (democracy). But he underlines the last. He writes about “respect for diversity” and “freedom of expression” being the essence of India’s democracy and speaks to a BJP that accuses its political opposition of an agenda to balkanise India and membership of a “tukde tukde gang”, of a BJP that does not treat political adversaries as enemies. He reminds his party of a conception of Indian nationalism that does not paint disagreement as “anti-national”. The day after, for the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah BJP, it would be all too easy to dismiss Advani’s message, and its implied criticism, by targeting him. He has just been denied a ticket from Gandhinagar, after all, the constituency that elected him to the Lok Sabha six times since 1991 — bringing a long and significant parliamentary career to an end. Party president Amit Shah has filed his own nomination papers from Gandhinagar with great fanfare. Therefore, it could be argued, the Advani blog. That may or may not be true. But by reading Advani only for his supposed motives, the BJP would not only be disrespectful to its veteran, it would also risk missing the real takeaway.
With polls round the corner, the BJP may calculate that Advani’s critique has little or no electoral resonance. But as the political party that has ruled India at the Centre with a majority for the last five years, and which has governments in a majority of the states, the BJP must know that there is another calculus. It will be held to a higher standard, a glimmer of which can be seen in its margdarshak’s message.
