The price he paid for his values

L K Advani, the leader who once was biggest name, and symbol of BJP, has been sidelined by his own party, to cater to a leader, who according to BJP, will ensure victory in next election. 

Advani is a victim here, but not many people see him that way, and it may be projected as he is greedy of his own ambition of becoming Prime Minister of India. We have to understand, that when it was time, when destiny called him to declare himself the leader of World’s largest democracy, in 1995, he himself nominated Atal Behari Vajpayee as party’s PM candidate. He was the preferred choice of the nation at that time, and the party wanted his leadership, like they are now after Narendra Modi. But, his inner voice, discipline, respect for seniority of Atalji, made him defer to Vajpayee, his political senior. At that time, many people told him, that he is throwing away possibly the only shot at the top chair of country. He may not get such chance again, and once Vajpayee becomes PM, Advani will not be able to retain the same power and control in party. But he did not listen to anyone and fully supported Vajpayee.

He got another chance, when Vajpayee’s first term ended in just 13 days, although this time, Vajpayee was already an ex-PM, but the opportunity was still there for him. 

Advani never entertained this idea. It’s not that he never wanted to become Prime Minister, but he came from original RSS background, and there are moral values which he preferred to follow more than political advice. His idea about seniority, fair play, friendships and doing the correct thing in correct way was more important to him, than indulge into pulling others for his own benefit. 

When the government was formed, the predictable happened, and Advani was belittle and humiliated by PM and his circle. Advani was home minister of India, and he did not even know about the nuclear test schedule! This was known to a lot of mid or small level ministers, including Pramod Mahajan, but the man who made the government and PM possible, was out of loop. He did not say anything in public, to avoid any political issue, which again shows the decency he has. 

Ironically, the only time Advani fought back within his own party and Vajpayee, was to save Narendra Modi. Vajpayee was keen to remove Modi in 2002, due to his way of handling situations in Gujrat post Godha riots. Advani stood rock solid in Modi’s defense. A large section of BJP, including Prime Minister wanted Modi’s removal, and Modi was saved only due to Advani. It was Advani who helped Modi become Chief Minister of Gujrat, a year earlier, without even winning any election! 

Advani did a mistake; he should have understood the character of Modi from the riots, or at least when Haren Pandya was killed! But with all his moral values, he look for goodness and believed Modi rather than believing the evidences! He actually handpicked Modi and was kind of his mentor in Politics. He had helped him a lot in various occasions, including saving his career post riots. But deep within, now he knows Modi is not fit for the top most post of this country. But what he never realized, that he is in Politics, where moral values, seniority and fair play is not found anywhere! Its full of people who will pull you down to make their way up! 

I am not an admirer of Advani’s political viewpoint, but I have always admired his character. And even today, he knows he is 82, and does not have much say within the same party he nourished all his life, and somewhat responsible to make it a national party. But he still has his own character, and moral values, which does not allow him to sit silently and give his nod for Modi, as for him, Modi is unfit for the job. So, even if it cost him another round of humiliation, he has expressed his views. Now, history will decide if his decision was right or wrong. 

समर शेष है, नहीं पाप का भागी केवल व्याघ्र,

जो तटस्थ हैं, समय लिखेगा उनका भी अपराध।