The Republic of Tea
New Tricks, Same Advani
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
This week was budget week. It was also Advani week. The (now former) premier of India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was visiting Pakistan, at the request of General Musharraf and his crew. But people back home India were not happy, least of all the powerful fanatic Hindu groups that form the core of the BJP.
Their grumbling began even as Advani prepared to leave for Pakistan. And in the end what really pieved them was his choice of words when he got here, saying that the 1992 destruction of the Babri Mosque by Hindu fanatics was "the saddest day of [his] life" and that Jinnah was "a secular leader who made history as the architect of a new state." These comments were received in India by a flurry of criticism and protest that reached its crescendo upon Advani's return home and resulted finally in his resignation from the BJP presidency.
The fanatic Hindu group Shiv Sena labeled it "a betrayel of 80 crore Hindus in India." It added "By kicking Hindus in India if anyone wants to gain something in politics then it is their outlook. We don't want to gain anything by surrendering the self-respect of Hindus."
But hold on now. If you know Advani's profile, you're probably scratching your head right now. Advani was directly responsible for the destruction of the Babri Mosque, as the leader of a decade long movement to build the Ram Temple on the Mosque's foundations. But why would someone who's built his career on a Hindu Nationalist agenda suddenly turn on his own base?
One might say that he was simply overwhelmed on his visit to Pakistan. I disagree. At 78 years old Advani is a seasoned campaigner. He's not one to lose control of what he says and on a visit to Pakistan no less. Its more likely that he is trying to pave a political future for himself. Being a fanatical Hindu leader can only take you so far. It takes a Vajpayee to become a Prime Minister of India. His visit to Pakistan and his comments were part of a calculated risk he is taking to cast himself as a moderate and make himself more acceptable to the rest of India's heterogenous population.
I suppose the question we should be asking ourselves is whether his comments make him more acceptable to us? No is the answer for me and and any Muslim who is concerned about the cost of the riots in 1992 claiming 2000 lives and the massavres in Gujrat claiming another 2000 Muslims. The destruction of our places of worship. That a person could allow the deaths of so many innocent Muslims and then benefit politically from it. And unfortunately Hakumat-e-Pakistan has already become the central actor in Advani's latest political gimmick.
Their grumbling began even as Advani prepared to leave for Pakistan. And in the end what really pieved them was his choice of words when he got here, saying that the 1992 destruction of the Babri Mosque by Hindu fanatics was "the saddest day of [his] life" and that Jinnah was "a secular leader who made history as the architect of a new state." These comments were received in India by a flurry of criticism and protest that reached its crescendo upon Advani's return home and resulted finally in his resignation from the BJP presidency.
The fanatic Hindu group Shiv Sena labeled it "a betrayel of 80 crore Hindus in India." It added "By kicking Hindus in India if anyone wants to gain something in politics then it is their outlook. We don't want to gain anything by surrendering the self-respect of Hindus."
But hold on now. If you know Advani's profile, you're probably scratching your head right now. Advani was directly responsible for the destruction of the Babri Mosque, as the leader of a decade long movement to build the Ram Temple on the Mosque's foundations. But why would someone who's built his career on a Hindu Nationalist agenda suddenly turn on his own base?
One might say that he was simply overwhelmed on his visit to Pakistan. I disagree. At 78 years old Advani is a seasoned campaigner. He's not one to lose control of what he says and on a visit to Pakistan no less. Its more likely that he is trying to pave a political future for himself. Being a fanatical Hindu leader can only take you so far. It takes a Vajpayee to become a Prime Minister of India. His visit to Pakistan and his comments were part of a calculated risk he is taking to cast himself as a moderate and make himself more acceptable to the rest of India's heterogenous population.
I suppose the question we should be asking ourselves is whether his comments make him more acceptable to us? No is the answer for me and and any Muslim who is concerned about the cost of the riots in 1992 claiming 2000 lives and the massavres in Gujrat claiming another 2000 Muslims. The destruction of our places of worship. That a person could allow the deaths of so many innocent Muslims and then benefit politically from it. And unfortunately Hakumat-e-Pakistan has already become the central actor in Advani's latest political gimmick.
