Jinnahland and Advani's gambit

The furore in the BJP camp over Advani's praise of Jinnah during his recent visit to Jinnah-land has grabbed most of the headlines. Advani for all these years has been carrying the image of anti-Pakistani and is rumored to have been the cheif wrecker of the Agra summit. During his recent visit to Jinnah-land, L.K. Advani pulled off one of the biggest surprises of all time by remarking that Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a secular man. Unsurprisingly, this has ruffled the feathers of the Sangh Parivar which resulted in Advani resign from his post as party president. What is surprising thought is that none of the BJP leaders except for the venerable Atal Behari Vajpayee stood by him. Vajpayee rightly remarked that Advani has right to freedom of speech and that Jinnah wanted people of india and jinnah-land to live in peace. If Advani's exit is indeed irrevocable, BJP will be the biggest loser because they would have lost a leader who was capable of keeping the flock together even in tough times.

Advani's adversaries might look at this entire episode as an eyewash in order to score brownie points. Opposition 'leaders' like Lalu Prasad have already barked hoarse. My guess is that majority of the Indians don't identify themselves as hardline Hindus not do they patronize the Sangh Parivar, and thus Advani has risen in their esteem. BJP has been embroiled in one crisis after another ever since their surprising Lok Sabha debacle, and this move will surely help their cause. Advani has not only redeemed himself in the eye of Pakistanis but also risen in the eye of the public.

It is highly possible that all this is hogwash and done for political gains and that Advani will withdraw his resignation and come back to BJP, thereby enabling it to get a large share of mouslem votes in the next election.

On the other hand, Advani might be contrite for his hardline stand all these years and that would have prompted him to make this move, in which case I give him two-thumbs up !!