By writing a blog on BJP’s Foundation Day, the veteran lets out a conscience call and warns the party against its hubris

They say old generals don’t die, they just wither away. But the founder-member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its second president, LK Advani, who was quite unceremoniously retired by its present leadership, decided not to fade away but like a burning flame on a shrivelling wick, waged his last fight of principles. In a blog post, he graciously defended his vision of what the party should be and warned against what it had become. Not exactly a rebellion but a conscience call that hubris shouldn’t rule if you want to serve the “nation first.” That egoism wouldn’t win the game unless you put the “self last.” Particularly, the blog was seen as a comment on the aggressive militarism, monolithic impositions and the politics of hate and division that the present dispensation has come to embody. Advani clarified that the BJP may be a rightist party but “in our conception of Indian nationalism we have never regarded those who disagree with us politically as anti-national. The essence of Indian democracy is respect for diversity and freedom of expression. Right from its inception, the BJP has never regarded those who disagree with us politically as our ‘enemies’, but only as our adversaries.” The implications were not lost on anybody at a time when in speech after fiery speech, the present leadership questions the credentials of Opposition parties or liberal thought as “anti-national” and forcibly circumscribes any diversity within the umbrella narrative of national security and patriotism. By emphasising democracy and protection of independent institutions, highlighting the fairness of the media, he clearly critiqued the present leadership, which is seen as not only playing the big brother watchdog but bending rules to suit its imperatives. The coercion of the media and using it for propaganda is an open secret. He invoked his fight to uphold principles during the Emergency, saying elections were an occasion for “honest introspection by all stakeholders in Indian democracy.”  And this last was the most definitive arrow at a party, which he believes had overreached itself and betrayed its core ethos.

As the tallest leader of the BJP, who crafted its national identity with a definitive alternative ideology, Advani has clearly exercised his right as a margdarshak to be voluble. So while opinion swelled in his favour, with Opposition parties lauding him, some even wondered why he did not question the present establishment earlier and instead expose himself to the criticism that he was hitting back for being denied the Gandhinagar seat, which he has been winning since 1998. It wasn’t that he was keen to fight but he wanted to announce an exit on his own terms, one which he was clearly refused. Never a shrill man, he has attempted a course-correction by appealing to the party rank and file on the BJP’s Foundation Day but sidelined by those he created and groomed, his words are just like the Directive Principles of State policy, good to hear but lacking in the will to implement. The other BJP veteran, Murli Manohar Joshi, denied a ticket to contest, has been in talks with a lot of Opposition parties and also wants to address crony capitalism openly. The two elders have nothing to lose. And they know that whatever they say now may not impact the BJP’s electoral prospects at all. But both have and can cause huge public embarrassment to a party that self-professedly upholds the Hindu dharma or a way of life. Insulting and hurting elders is anathema to the doctrine of the Hindu Parivar and the present leadership would seem guilty of that in this context. Advani and his long-time co-traveller Atal Bihari Vajpayee have shown how goodwill is earned, not manufactured. Now both Advani and Joshi have laid bare why propriety, respect and wisdom can never have an expiry date even if they do. They may be the last men standing yet, revered but not feared.