Opinion: Respected Advaniji, please break your stoic silence, nation wants to listen to you

Here is an open letter to L K Advani from an Indian citizen who was once his ardent admirer:

Respected Advaniji,

You were once the central figure in Indian politics and the most powerful leader in the BJP. You were the political face of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the 1980s and your cross-country Rath Yatra was instrumental in displacing the Congress from power and installing the first ever BJP-led Government at the Centre in 1996.

You conducted yourself with rare dignity as Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the Morarji Desai Government and as Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the Vajpayee Government. After Vajpayee retired from active politics, you were the natural choice to lead the party and the Opposition and you excelled in that role too with distinction.

What endeared you to vast masses of people like me was your powerful oratory that made you a crowd-puller, your well-studied and balanced views on political issues of the day and your amazing organisational ability.

Vajpayee once said of you: “I chose to remain a bachelor for life thinking it would help me to serve the party better. But Advaniji proved me wrong. He is as dedicated as me to the party even while leading a happy family life”.

In the run-up to the last Lok Sabha election, I expected you to throw your full weight behind the BJP and help the party regain power at the Centre. But, instead, you chose to remain a passive spectator throughout the Lok Sabha election campaign under the leadership of Narendra Modi.

It is as clear as daylight that you didn’t want to leave the mantle to Modi. To prevent his projection as the next Prime Ministerial candidate, you unsuccessfully tried to stall Modi’s appointment as the election campaign committee chief at the BJP National Executive meet in Goa. During the Lok Sabha campaign, you didn’t utter a word in support of the BJP.

Even after Modi’s elevation as Prime Minister, you kept aloof from politics and refused to be a mentor to the BJP Government. You never came to the rescue of Modi Government when it was attacked by the Opposition on various issues. Of late, you don’t miss any opportunity to embarrass the Prime Minister and the party leadership. Your widely quoted comment in an interview about the chances of Emergency coming back again and your recent meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal are cases in point.

What are you really up to? Are you the one who founded the BJP and dedicated your entire political career to building up the party brick by brick? Then why do you want to rock the party boat from within now?

Maybe it was your life’s ambition to become the Prime Minister of the country. Prior to the 2009 election, you even announced that as the Leader of the Opposition in a parliamentary democracy, you considered yourself the Prime Ministerial candidate for the general election. You were absolutely right at that point of time, as there was none in your party more qualified than you to be its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Even in 2014, at the age of 87, you had that burning ambition in you to be projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate. But Modi’s growing popularity among the masses and his support within the party upset your applecart. That could be the reason why you chose to remain passive ever since Modi was formally declared as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate.

You once had your finger on the pulse of the masses. But you completely misread the public mood in the run-up to the 2014 election. You failed to notice or acknowledge the fact that times have changed and the nation comprising a majority of young voters was looking for a youthful, vibrant and dynamic leader to steer the nation through the 21st Century. Modi was the answer to the people’s aspirations. That is why Modi could achieve a single-party majority in the Lok Sabha after a gap of 30 years.

You refused to concede that with your advancing age, failing health and declining faculties, you could hardly measure up to the expectations of young India.

Grooming a successor is the paramount duty of any leader. You didn’t do that. Even at this age, you refused to voluntarily pass on the mantle to the next generation. That is where, dear Advaniji, you failed as a leader and betrayed your party and millions of your fans. You may recall that even Vajpayee had endorsed your candidacy for Prime Ministership in the 2009 election.

Having come to this pass, I beseech you to let bygones be bygones and provide moral leadership to the party and the nation at this critical juncture like an elder statesman. Leaders like Rajaji and Jayaprakash Narayan used to give wise counsel to the Government and the nation even after they retired from active politics. During Jawaharlal Nehru’s stewardship, the nation keenly waited to listen to the views of Rajaji on the functioning of the Nehru Government through his weekly magazine Swarajya. JP, the arhitect of the post-Emergency Janata Party victory, too offered his wise counsel to the Morarji Desai Government without holding any position in the Government.

With all those outstanding leaders gone, the nation looks upon you as the tallest living political leader of the country to guide the nation and the Government of the day through your wise counsel. The new Government is into its teething troubles. The economy is struggling to recover. Terrorism is rearing its head again. Your intervention and counsel could greatly influence the national agenda and raise the quality of political discourse in the country.

Respected Advaniji, please break your stoic silence, nation wants to listen to you!

A concerned citizen

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