Three good reasons why Advani made Emergency remark
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) patriarch LK Advani has been sulking ever since the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) decided to project Narendra Modi as BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Despite his age, experience and wisdom, the stand he has been taking since 2013 has done three things - proved him wrong, isolated him within his party and made him fodder for the rivals in their attacks on the BJP.
And Advani has done it again. In an interview with The Indian Express, the senior leader has talked about the probabilities of Emergency getting imposed in the country and said, "At the present point of time, the forces that can crush democracy, notwithstanding the constitutional and legal safeguards, are stronger…Today, I do not say that the political leadership is not mature. But kamiyon ke karan, vishwas nahin hota (I don't have faith because of its weaknesses). I don't have the confidence that it [Emergency] cannot happen again."
Fine, he spoke about Emergency ahead of its imposition 40 years ago on June 25, 1975. But there are three reasons why his ramblings should not be seen in isolation:
1. Sushma Swaraj-Vasundhara Raje-Lalit Modi imbroglio: Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje are considered close to Advani. Both the leaders are going through one of the roughest patches of their political careers, all thanks to having extended help to former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi. When the news was broken by Sunday Times, London, some senior BJP leaders saw it as the handiwork of party insiders. For instance, the party's Lok Sabha MP from Darbhanga in Bihar, Kirti Azad, said, on record, on Twitter: "#BJPs #AsteenKaSaanp & #Arnab conspire against BJP leaders. Guess the snake? IStandWithSushmaSwaraj @SushmaSwaraj." The attack on Swaraj and Raje must have deeply hurt Advani and it can be the latest trigger for him to flag concerns that the forces that can crush democracy are stronger at present.
2. Sidelined in the BJP: Advani does not hold any post in the BJP ever since Amit Shah became president. He was removed from the BJP's highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board. He is also just one of the members of the "margdarshak mandal" formed last year to guide the party and the government. But even that has not met even once after it was constituted on August 26, 2014. Friends in the BJP said Advani has been proven wrong on earlier occasions and this will happen in future too.
The fact that Advani harboured prime ministerial ambitions is not new. Therefore, he has reasons to sulk. As a mark of protest, he did not attend the BJP's June 2013 national executive meet in Goa, which chose Modi as the chairperson of the party's election campaign committee. A day after the meet ended, Advani resigned from all party posts, however, only to retract at the insistence of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other BJP leaders. The same year on September 13, Advani again did not attend the meet of BJP's highest decision-making body, parliamentary board, to anoint Modi as the party's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections. He even sent a letter to then party president Rajnath Singh raising objections about the manner in which the affairs of the BJP were being handled. It was for the first time that Advani, a prominent founding member of the BJP, had not attended either the national executive or the parliamentary board meeting since the inception of the party in 1980. He opposed Modi's elevation on the ground that it would be counter-productive not only for the Lok Sabha polls but also the assembly elections later that year in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. But Advani proved himself wrong on all the counts. By opposing Modi, he has only given an opportunity to rivals to attack the prime minister and the RSS. After Advani's Emergency-like situation remarks, the opposition hit out at the BJP, saying they are a barb at Modi.
3. Presidential ambition: The presidential elections are due two years from now in July 2017. Friends in the BJP told this writer that the 87-year-old leader is presenting himself as contender for the post. He is also indicating to the Opposition that he is the only person fit enough to check the Emergency-like tendencies within the present leadership.