The Advani Code

Gujarat elections are over and all the fuss which they created has almost died. The talks about Modi’s future role are on a hold for a time being. The debates on the statements which were made during the campaigning are over. The discussion on Advani’s statement ‘This is a turning point of Indian politics’ is lost somewhere. But this statement is very much here and still a lot can be talked about it.

The day Gujarat results came whole media was busy in speculating about Modi’s future role, as to if he will be given responsibilities at the centre and if BJP will take him up in the central government? In addition BJP supremo Mr. Advani came up with this statement of his, which left all the political pundits guessing if this was somewhere again related to Modi’s role? If by turning point he was talking about Modism? But to their dismay they were not able to exactly interpret Advani’s statement and that’s why it got lost without being deciphered.

In order to decode ‘The Advani’s code’ and to read in between his lines we need to learn a little about the history of his statements. This is not the first time that he came up with this kind of assertion, but like this time, every other time very little heed was paid to understand them. It all began two decades back when he said that we want to polarize the Indian polity; people should have an alternative to congress. Listening to a statement like this at a time when there was only congress all around, and that too from a leader whose party hardly had any presence at the centre, who was talking about polarizing the whole politics and becoming an option, didn’t made much sense to most of the people. But just down the decade and we can see as to what exactly did he meant.

Then the man again came up with his bright ideas, and said that in India there should be two party system. Saying something like this, in a country with numerous regional parties and an equal number of national parties doesn’t make much sense. Again this statement was not looked upon as something very wise or stimulating. But then in the year 1997, the man brought together a number of parties and formed an alliance by the name of NDA. This was the first chapter of the by-party system book, last being the formation UPA. Theoretically we may argue that two coalition groups is entirely different from a two party system, but practically it is more or less the same thing with only two power blocks.

But the story doesn’t ends here and before the general elections of 2004 he said that in India there should be presidential form of elections. Like every other time it came and went by, and for most of the people it was nothing more than just another statement of an old man. However again it is not just any statement and there is a lot more to it than what most people think. Let’s look at the recent assembly elections in which BJP or for that matter NDA has performed exceptionally well. It was Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Gujarat and now Himachal Pradesh. Except BJP performing exceptionally well in all of them there is another thing common to them and that is the declaration Chief Ministerial Candidate. In all of these elections BJP had before hand declared who their CM would be, and ironically all of them were elections in which congress never projected anyone as the CM. Result is very much clear in front of us. This experiment which began with MP and Rajasthan elections, after which Advani talked about Presidential form of elections, ended with Gujarat elections, and this is the turning point in Indian politics.

Looking at it superficially and theoretically then they are mere inferences, but technically speaking, what this old man has said holds a lot to infer and actually makes a lot of sense. Advani has seen this coming a long ago, that is why he started playing it the way people wants it to be. With awareness and empowerment, people want to know who will be their leader. Whom are they making the next CM or for that matter PM. You cannot keep them in dark about things for which you are asking them to vote, and this is the reason why BJP has declared their Prime Ministerial candidate. The political pundits might be speculating that the step is to counter the growing stature of Modi. But the fact is sooner the people come to know about the aspiring PM, better are the chances they will accept him. It is not like you pick-up anyone from anywhere you like and make him/her PM overnight, without even getting the person contest an election.

Congress has still not figured it out, and they abstain themselves from declaring any candidates for the top post. This mistake made them suffer in Gujarat as they were not able to provide any alternative to Modi, ‘A Campaign Lost’ [http://www.zhagdoo.com/2007/12/18/a-campaign-lost/] and the same mistake can make them suffer more.

So next time when Advani makes any statement do not just go by the words, but try to decode ‘The Advani Code’ as there is a lot in it.