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As Modi-Advani’s recent meeting shows, liberals were clutching at straws in exonerating Advani

Liberals are a strange species, always willing to clutch at the weakest of straws if it suits their agenda or hope. At least, this is true for most of them.

Now, since most Indian liberals want nothing better than to see Narendra Modi and the BJP under him and Amit Shah to lose the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they are even ready to welcome with open arms the original Hindutva-wadis.

The one-time doyens of the Indian right being exonerated for their past crimes by Indian liberals include L.K. Advani, who played the leading role in bringing down the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, Murli Manohar Joshi, who was at the forefront of the Ram Temple movement, and the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who finds a clear mention in the Justice M.S. Liberhan Commission report on the demolition of the disputed structure.

Also read: Why liberals are afraid to admit there’s more to Modi than just Hindutva

Many liberals began commiserating with Messrs Advani and Joshi after the Modi-Shah combine forced them into semi-retirement by appointing them to the Margdarshak Mandal, a BJP panel largely seen as being toothless with no say in party affairs.

They also lapped it up when Advani in 2015 suggested that “forces that can crush democracy are stronger” and that he didn’t have the confidence that Emergency wouldn’t happen again.

There seemed to be hope that his calculated comments would somehow turn the tide against Modi. Three years of waiting, however, should have dissipated any remaining hope.

On Thursday, like several occasions since his 2015 interview, a deferential Advani received Modi at his residence, where the Prime Minister, a rose in hand, wished the former BJP president on his birthday.

In vouching for Advani, many seem to have conveniently forgotten that he led the infamous Ram Rath Yatra in 1990, aimed at educating the public – read voting Hindus – about the importance of Ram and Ayodhya.

It polarised the polity to such an extent that riots broke out in several parts of the country. As for Advani, he described his Rath Yatra as “an exhilarating period in my political life.”

Murli Manohar Joshi, on the other hand, was the BJP president in 1991 when the Ekta Yatra, charioteered by Modi in a Toyota van-turned-rath, decided to pay a visit to Kashmir.

That the yatra was a flop doesn’t take away from the fact that it sharpened the divide between Kashmir and the rest of the country.

Also read: In Modi-era, intellectuals confess they are confused

Liberals need to know Modi knows his politics well. If he thought the present-day Advani could hurt him politically, he would have kept him in good humour, even made him President.

The Prime Minister, however, is aware that Advani, bound by his links to the RSS, will never openly oppose him or do anything to hurt the BJP’s chances in 2019.

When will liberals realise that?

Past and present BJP allies too clutching at straws

One-time BJP allies such as N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and current partners Upendra Khushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha appear to be clutching at straws in their defiance of the BJP leadership.

Till about six months ago, Naidu’s TDP was a prominent part of the BJP-led NDA, with nothing but praise for Modi’s leadership. His estrangement with the BJP began only after he realised that the saffron party was in backchannel talks with his bête noir, the YSR Congress’s Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, and planned to discard him before the Lok Sabha elections.

Now, Naidu is the darling of the opposition, hopping from one state capital to another, trying to cobble together a united anti-BJP coalition. There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics, it is often said. But, even by that standard, what is happening in India is interesting.

It is not exactly a secret that but for Lalu Prasad Yadav’s curt refusal, Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal (United) would have returned to the UPA fold in June this year.

Also read: Indian intellectuals hate Rahul Gandhi as much as they hate Narendra Modi

Yes, the same Nitish, who, along with his new lieutenant Prashant Kishor, was desperate to dump the BJP and join hands with the RJD. After being snubbed, however, Nitish is now forced to smile for the cameras whenever he meets Modi or Shah. Congress would have loved to do business with him again. Who knows, it may still do.

In J&K, it wasn’t exactly a state secret that the BJP, after the 2014 Assembly elections, was keen to tie-up with the National Conference led by Farooq Abdullah. Even Abdullah was not against such an alliance – do remember that the NC was a part of the NDA under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The alliance wasn’t formalised only because Abdullah realised it would hurt his party in the long run but more importantly since he knew he couldn’t trust Modi and Shah.

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