With the RSS aggressively driving a generational change in the BJP, the party’s tallest leader and the one who has helped to guide its fortunes for well over four decades, LK Advani, faces probably the biggest dilemma of his political career. Can he remain relevant in the new emerging order? Or will he fade away, unable to carve out even a small space for himself as chief mentor, friend, philosopher and guide?
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said in Haridwar on Monday that it is up to Advani to decide his future role. But the decision may not be in his hands entirely. As Bhagwat unrolls his roadmap to resolve the crisis ripping through the BJP, Advani may find that there is little room for him in the new scheme of things.
The most critical factor that will impact the man who has dominated the party so overwhelmingly is the choice of the next party president. Although Advani’s band of loyalists is still hoping that he will have a major say in the decision, most others have no doubt that Rajnath Singh’s successor will be handpicked by Bhagwat.
The RSS chief has always chosen the men who head the affiliated organisations of the Sangh and the BJP (like its earlier avtaar, the Jana Sangh) is no exception.
It is believed that Bhagwat is still in the process of making up his mind but several names are under consideration, the frontrunners being former Goa chief minister Manohar Parikkar and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Chauhan.
The important point to note in the names being discussed is that all of them are staunch RSS loyalists and do not belong to the Delhi-centric coterie that was nurtured and pushed forward by Advani.
Clearly, Bhagwat is determined that the next BJP president will take his orders directly from the RSS and not try to chart an independent political course. As critical as the choice of the next party president is the composition of his team.
Again, it seems Bhagwat is scouting around outside Delhi for new faces to induct into the party. The RSS chief has talked of 75-80 young persons who are capable of leading the BJP.
It suggests that he has already identified people he would like to bring in at different levels in the party, both at the headquarters in Delhi and in the states. This means a total organisational overhaul of the BJP that would see established names and faces being put out to grass. Bhagwat has not shown his hand completely as yet and continues to operate from the shadows.
But what little he has revealed suggests that he wants to pluck the BJP out of the Vajpayee-Advani era and create a completely new identity for the party. Time will tell how he intends to position the BJP but what is clear is that he wants to shake off the legacy of a duo that has acquired a stature that’s larger than the RSS.
Vajpayee retired from active politics in 2005 and his failing health has kept him away from the BJP. He has thus been spared the humiliation of being made redundant in a party he led for so long.
Advani has to chart his course. BJP member Swapan Dasgupta, who has worked closely with him, feels that Advani’s “sane political counsel and experience” are still relevant for the party. “But he will have to give space for others to grow in their own right,” he said.
