NEW DELHI, 2 June 2004 — India’s former ruling Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday elected Lal Krishna Advani as its leader in Parliament. The BJP being the largest opposition party in the new Parliament, Advani will also be the leader of the opposition in Parliament.
Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was elected chairman of the party’s parliamentary wing but is expected to take a backseat role.
“I have carried the burden for so long. Now I have given it to Advaniji,” Vajpayee told reporters after the closed-door meeting of BJP parliamentarians. He looked relaxed and in good spirits.
But the broader question of where his Hindu fundamentalist party goes from here remains unanswered, after its entirely unexpected defeat in the recent election.
“It’s a question they don’t even know the answer to,” said Vinod Mehta, editor of the weekly magazine Outlook. “They are utterly and totally confused and traumatized by this defeat.”
Riding on the “feel-good” factor of a booming economy and improved ties with old foe Pakistan, the BJP was overwhelming favorite to win the election, only to be swept away by Sonia Gandhi’s Congress party.
The 76-year-old Advani has already admitted the BJP campaign motto “India shining” may have backfired, alienating large sections of the rural and urban poor excluded from the economic opportunities enjoyed by the middle classes.
Vajpayee said the party was still examining why it had lost the election. “Overconfidence could be one of the reasons,” he said.
With many prominent BJP faces no longer in the Lok Sabha, the responsibility for defining the new BJP lies on Advani’s shoulders. He is acutely aware that his party stands at a crossroads. Activists close to Advani say he is still stunned by the April-May poll outcome.
