Advani gets time, but RSS won’t wait for long

Advani, whose relations with the Sangh brass had reached a breaking point after his refusal to heed their directive and step down as party chief on July 11, secured a reprieve once again but only after he drove down to the RSS headquarters at Jhandewalan to give a personal assurance of his commitment to the Parivar’s ideology and willingness to follow their advice.

In exchange, the RSS brass — led by general secretary Mohan Bhagwat — agreed to call off the open intra-Parivar warfare that had made headlines in the past few days and not ‘‘interfere’’ in the BJP’s affairs directly.

However, in a statement issued to the press later, Bhagwat made it clear that the RSS wanted the BJP to carry out ‘‘necessary reforms’’, including a change of leadership.

Referring to the July 11 meeting, Bhagwat said, ‘‘We expressed our desire that serious efforts be made in the coming days to address the sentiments expressed by us on issues like ideology, conduct, organisation, emergence of new generation etc.’’ The mention of a ‘‘new generation’’ was significant because it had not figured in the earlier statements by the RSS and indicated the Sangh’s desire that Advani make way for a younger leadership.

The phrase ‘‘coming days’’ was equally significant, underlining that a change of leadership should take place sooner than later and should not be kept pending indefinitely.

In a bid to placate the Advani camp which was livid over the public diatribes by leaders like Madan lal Khurana yesterday, Bhagwat said, ‘‘We also expect that while doing all this (i.e. addressing our concerns) our swayamsevaks will be cautious in maintaining organizational discipline and do the needful in avoiding negative publicity by restricting all their discussions on these matters to the four walls of the organisation only.’’

In conversations with RSS supremo K.S.Sudarshan last night and with Bhagwat and company today, the BJP chief is believed to have expressed anguish at the fact that an RSS-inspired smear campaign had been unleashed against him.

To make amends, Bhagwat noted: ‘‘In the last few weeks there were several references to the Sangh in the media on this issue. I would like to make it clear that our objective was to convey the above-mentioned matters to the concerned functionaries of the organisations and it is the responsibility of those organisations to bring in necessary reforms. The Sangh shall not interfere in that process.’’

The signal, sources said, was that the RSS would not encourage its sympathisers to attack Advani if the BJP chief effected a quiet course correction and stepped down voluntarily from his post ‘‘in the coming days’’.

Advani received a shot in the arm earlier in the day when Vajpayee, speaking to reporters at Gwalior, defended him stoutly and said he would like him to continue in both posts (BJP president as well as Leader of Opposition.)

However, Vajpayee also underlined that the BJP still believed in the ‘one man, one post’ principle and Advani himself was not in favour of holding on to both positions. ‘‘It was an arrangement and can be changed. It will be changed…It is for Advani to decide which post he wants to hold,’’ Vajpayee added enigmatically.

Senior party leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, ruled out a scenario of Advani stepping down as Leader of Opposition in favour of Vajpayee while retaining the party chief’s post. Even if the Atal-Advani duo wanted to carry out such a plan, the RSS would veto it, they said.

Today’s truce came as a result of rising concern in Parivar circles that the prolonged Advani versus RSS confrontation was gravely damaging both.

The original debate over ideology was being overtaken by ego clashes at various levels and if not contained quickly would percolate to the grassroot level.

Faced with a stark choice between ties with the RSS and loyalty to Advani, the majority in the BJP would choose the former, sources said.

Addressing the media at Advani’s residence in the evening, Venkaiah Naidu too made this clear, stating ‘‘we have cordial relations with RSS and will continue to have cordial relations with RSS in future’’.

He also said the BJP leadership had conveyed to the RSS that ‘‘we intend to address their concerns and move forward. It is my assessment and understanding that they are satisfied.’’

But while the BJP was not ready to snap the umbilical cord with RSS, both Advani and Vajpayee — backed by a number of second-rung leaders — did not want the RSS to ‘‘micro-manage’’ BJP affairs and publicly humiliate as senior a leader as Advani.

The compromise worked out, therefore, was Advani would step down eventually but not be pushed out unceremoniously at the Sangh’s bidding.