Bharat Ratna for L K Advani

It was not surprising when people started asking questions on the occasion of Pran Pratistha of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya regarding the invitation to Lal Krishna Advani. It meant many things. People identified the culmination of the more than three decade long socio-political movement for the Ram Janam Bhoomi with L.K. Advani’s Rath Yatra that drew people in hordes all across the nation and created the political space for the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). That ultimately got converted into a mandate for the BJP to form the government in a phased manner. First it ruled as a coalition under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then emerged as not only as the single largest party but a party that was capable of forming government on its own with Narendra Modi as the prime Minister. Not only that right from 2013 people had been curious to know about the fate of  L.K. Advani  in the new BJP dispensation. When he was elevated to the Margdarshak Mandal of the party; people presumed that it was an end to the most active career of the political leader. But politics is an enigma and can lead to different things at different times. When Bhartiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the original avatar of the present day BJP was dissolved. It changed the political climate of the country. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani were its founders in 1980.The political experts described this as an experiment to dilute the core ideology of the BJS to capture the political space and give competition to the Congress. BJP adopted the Gandhian Socialism as its credo. Surely it was an attempt to create a political alternative to the Congress. Not only had that BJP guaranteed positive secularism. It divided the original Jana Sangh ideoluges. Prof. Balraj Madhok who was indeed one of the founders of the BJS led the opposition against the dilution engineered to keep the nationalist hard-line in the backyard. Even in the later years, the BJP too saw the political differences between Vajpayee and Advani. That earned them labels of moderate and hardliner respectively. Modi has been astute in gauging the mood of the electorate. He has converted the apprehensions about the Advani’s role into electoral gains. Besides silencing the people who  were raising the issue of Advani being relegated to the background. Resurrection of Advani must been seen very keenly. He has been honoured the Bharat Ratna at a time when the core agenda of the BJP has been addressed. That includes the neutralisation of Article 370 and 35 A in Jammu and Kashmir. Besides the construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. By conferring the Bharat Ratna on Advani, the Modi government has acknowledged his contribution in building the BJP’s political space and giving the party an anchor in terms of Ram Mandir issue. At the same time he has neutralised the voices that the felt veterans like Advani have been side-lined. It has ironed out the differences. It will surely play a role in 2024 Parliamentary Elections. Politics has its own dynamics. It is pertinent to mention here when Gujarat Riots broke out due to attack on the Kar Sewaks it had a severe impact on the continuity of the BJP Government in Gujarat then led by its Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. Vajpayee considered to be the moderate had raised a finger on the functioning of the Gujarat government then. It was L.K.  Advani who had come to the rescue of the Narendra Modi then and prevailed upon the people who wanted him to resign. Advani is a seasoned politician who has crafted the political discourse of India in the post independent era. He too came under the attack in 2005 when he gave a clean chit to the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and called him secular. It antagonised the BJP-RSS then and eventually it led to his marginalisation. Though there were other factors like the failure of achieving the mandate to form the government under his leadership. Time has come full circle. After conferring the Bharat Ratna to L.K. Advani and Karpoori Thakur, BJP has set the agenda for 2024 Parliamentary Elections. That it knows the political pulse of the nation. It is capable of holding Mandal in one hand and Kamandal in another hand respectively. Thus leaving no space for the opposition to woo the voters