Advani vs Modi, Gadkari: Signs of a rift are growing

After the BJP national executive meeting in Mumbai last week, the party’s Grand Old Leader made waves by failing to turn up for a public rally to enthuse the faithful. His protégé too failed to show up, and the rally was dominated by the party’s new primus inter pares, Narendra Modi. Lal Krishna the party’s octogenarian leader and the notable absentee at that rally apart from Sushma Swaraj, has now put in words his concerns about the party in his personal blog. The blog is significant not only for what it says, but what it does not. It also signals that Narendra Modi’s rise will face considerable hurdles even within the party. [caption id=“attachment_327482” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”]  [/caption] In the blog, references are made to the good work of Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, but not to Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari. Non-mention of any name in any blog should normally not be cause for comment, but in the context of the fact that the recent BJP meeting was all about Modi, what is not mentioned becomes as important as what is. The blog, titled BJP: Hub of hope*, seems to be more about the lack of hope. He starts out by making laudatory references to a column by Swapan Dasgupta in The Pioneer where Dasgupta castigates the media for coming to predetermined conclusions about the state of the BJP and its internal differences at the time of the national executive. He critiques the media’s tendency to “sex up” the “unhappiness” of LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj, as evidenced by their ‘boycott’ of the public meeting “where Modi had the star billing. The net conclusion: the BJP was still at war with itself.” Said Dasgupta: “That everyone in the BJP is not on the same page is a truism. No political party in India, not even the CPI(M), possesses an army where every member of the officer corps thinks alike. This is democratic normalcy, and it is only in India that the media projects the ideal of politics crafted on the North Korean model.” But Advani makes a reference to Dasgupta’s column not really to praise it but to subtly refute his thesis that the media was wrong. He says in his blog: “…when these days media-persons attack the UPA government for its string of scams, but at the same time regret that the BJP-led NDA is not rising to the occasion, I, as a former pressman myself, feel they are reflecting public opinion correctly.” Conclusion One: Advani is clearly saying that all is not well with the BJP, and the media’s assumptions about the BJP’s fissures are fact. Advani’s ‘unhappiness’ with the party’s leaders is apparent from another comment, where he affirms that the party is hurting. “The mood within the party these days is not upbeat. The results in Uttar Pradesh, the manner in which the party welcomed BSP ministers who were removed by Mayawatiji on charges of corruption, the party’s handling of Jharkhand and Karnataka – all these events have undermined the party’s campaign against corruption.” This is a veiled vote of no-confidence in Nitin Gadkari, who managed to get the party constitution amended to give himself another term as president. It was Gadkari who handled the Karnataka crisis, where BS Yeddyurappa was ousted (Advani would have supported that after his anti-corruption yatra, but he still picks a hole in Gadkari’s handling of this issue). It was Gadkari who inducted Babu Singh Kushwaha, a man linked to the National Rural Health Mission scam in Uttar Pradesh, before the assembly polls. His entry got blocked in the resultant outcry. It was Gadkari who okayed a coalition in Jharkhand with Shibu Soren’s tainted Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Conclusion Two: Advani is not happy with Gadkari. Since the latter is a nominee of the RSS, it means Advani is, by extension, not happy with the Sangh’s interference in the BJP’s affairs. The Sangh has indicated that Advani should not offer himself as a PM candidate after the next election. Advani then makes his own leadership preferences clear. While referring to the lapses of the current leaders in Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, Advani also slips in his own compliments for Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. “The fact that we have a sizeable contingent of MPs in Parliament today as against the niggardly two seats in 1984, that our performance in the two Houses under Sushmaji and Jaitleyji has been excellent, that the party is in power in as many as nine states today, is no compensation for the lapses committed.” Not mentioned at all is the elephant in the BJP bedroom: Narendra Modi. As an elected MP from Gujarat, Advani can hardly afford to have a public disagreement with Modi at the party national executive. During his Jan Chetna Yatra against corruption last year, Modi was unhappy with Advani for announcing the yatra out of the blue. Advani then shifted the launch to Bihar, where another protégé of his, Nitish Kumar of the JD(U), was glad to cash in on Modi’s discomfiture. Conclusion Three: The Modi-Advani rift (or cooling off) is becoming more obvious, even if it never really comes out into the open. This is the significance of Advani’s praise for Swaraj and Jaitley, even while criticising Gadkari (who has made his peace with Modi), and not mentioning Modi at all. Advani concludes his blog by saying: “I had said at the Core Group meeting (a few weeks ago) that if people are today angry with the UPA Government, they are also disappointed with us. The situation, I said, calls for introspection.” When a political leader calls for introspection, it means “I don’t like what is going on here.” Reading between the lines, it is clear that the Modi-Gadkari effort to assert supremacy over the party will face internal opposition even from Advani – even though his innings is drawing to a close. It also means that the rise of Modi – now also being contested in Gujarat, his home base – will not be a bloodless coup as some expected it to be.