Advani resignation shows rift in BJP

NEW DELHI: Veteran Indian opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani resigned Monday in apparent protest at the elevation of hard-liner Narendra Modi to lead his party into next year’s elections.
Advani, an 85-year-old stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former deputy prime minister, resigned from all his positions in the party which he helped build into a national force.
“He has submitted his resignation letter to the party chief,” a source in his office said on condition of anonymity.
Indian media quoted from a resignation letter by Advani, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2009 general elections, which made oblique references to Modi without naming him.
Advani said he was “finding it difficult to reconcile with either the functioning of the party or the direction in which it is going,” according to the Press Trust of India.
“I have decided, therefore, to resign from the three main fora of the party, namely, the National Executive, the Parliamentary Board and the Election Committee,” he said.
“Most BJP leaders are concerned just with their personal agendas,” he added.
Controversial right-wing politician Narendra Modi who had willingly accepted the new role during the weekend, said he had requested Advani to change his decision.
Advani’s campaign to build a Hindu temple on the site of a 16th-century mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya helped bring the party to national attention but also led to deadly religious riots.
Hindu zealots razed the mosque in 1992 which led to unrest in which over 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, died.
BJP spokesman Srikant Sharma told AFP that “every leader of the party will make every possible effort to convince him (to stay). His resignation has not been accepted.”
Other leaders of the party also stated that Advani’s resignation will never be accepted as his political guidance was needed at every stage by the party.
Advani did not attend the meeting of the BJP’s national executive at the weekend which promoted Modi to election committee chairman, although the official reason given was illness.
Advani mentored 62-year-old Modi, a chief minister from the western state of Gujarat, and defended him against criticism that he failed to stop deadly anti-Muslim riots in 2002.
His resignation highlights the difficult road ahead for Modi who will need to win the backing of other senior BJP members as well as the party’s regional coalition partners.
Reports said that Advani will remain chairman of the opposition National Democratic Alliance, which comprises 13 parties, and will strengthen his case against Modi’s candidacy after roping in the support of regional partners.
Advani was born in Karachi in 1927 and joined the hard-line Hindu outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — considered the BJP’s ideological parent — when he was 14 years old.
He worked alongside close friend and future premier Atal Behari Vajpayee to build up the BJP and was named home minister and later deputy prime minister during the party’s stint in power from 1998 to 2004.
After his appointment Sunday, Modi said he had spoken to Advani and wrote on his official Twitter account that he was “honored and extremely grateful to receive his blessings.”