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Tuesday, June 07, 2005
The soft side of LK Advani
After years of being the BJP's alpha male, in contrast to the new-age man AB Vajpayee, LK Advani has suddenly got in touch with his sensitive side. First, he expressed his regret for the demolition of the Babri Masjid; next, he praised Mohammad Ali Jinnah as a secularist; and now, he's resigned as president of the BJP because he was "deeply hurt" by Praveen Togadia, the rabblerouser from the VHP, calling him a traitor.
I tell you. Next we should have Sanjay Leela Bhansali making a film on Advani, with Shah Rukh Khan playing the title role and sacrificing his love, Kashmir, for the friend in army fatigues from across the border. "K-k-k-k-k-k-kkashmeeer," he will bemoan one last time, before collapsing on his goblet of milk and hurting his ribcage.
On a more, um, serious note, I wonder: could this be the first step towards the "new Third Front" that TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan had predicted here? The BJP is clearly already ideologically divided, between the hardliners who agree with the likes of Togadia and Ashok Singhal, and the moderates, who would probably support Advani here, and who see a vast space in the political center which is up for grabs, and which the Congress hasn't quite managed to occupy. Can this lead, in the months to come, to a formal split in the party, as the second-rung leaders jostle for position? Interesting times ahead.
I tell you. Next we should have Sanjay Leela Bhansali making a film on Advani, with Shah Rukh Khan playing the title role and sacrificing his love, Kashmir, for the friend in army fatigues from across the border. "K-k-k-k-k-k-kkashmeeer," he will bemoan one last time, before collapsing on his goblet of milk and hurting his ribcage.
On a more, um, serious note, I wonder: could this be the first step towards the "new Third Front" that TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan had predicted here? The BJP is clearly already ideologically divided, between the hardliners who agree with the likes of Togadia and Ashok Singhal, and the moderates, who would probably support Advani here, and who see a vast space in the political center which is up for grabs, and which the Congress hasn't quite managed to occupy. Can this lead, in the months to come, to a formal split in the party, as the second-rung leaders jostle for position? Interesting times ahead.
