NEW DELHI, 11 June 2005 — The four-day drama over Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani’s resignation as the party president ended when the veteran politician agreed yesterday to remain party chief, days after quitting amid a row sparked by his praise of Pakistan’s founder.
Advani resigned on Tuesday, throwing the BJP into a crisis, soon on his return from Pakistan where he lauded the nation’s founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah as a “great man” and a secular leader.
The praise drew fire from Hindu hard-liners who blame Jinnah for the bloody partition of the subcontinent.
“There was a crisis gripping the party after Advani’s resignation which was unequivocally rejected. The crisis is now over... he will remain BJP party president,” Sushma Swaraj, spokeswoman for the BJP, told reporters.
That Advani did not have it completely his way could be gauged by the fact that the issue was defused only after the Sangh Parivar, a conglomerate of three Hindu bodies, approved the revised version of the resolution that was passed at the party meeting.
Elaborating on the resolution passed by the BJP, Swaraj said the resolution describes Advani’s Pakistan visit as a “historic” success. The “great achievements” of Advani’s Pakistan visit include the launching of restoration of the Katasraj temple, furthering of the peace process initiated by the NDA government and his discussions on cross border terrorism with Pakistani leadership, Swaraj said.
Though the revised resolution was drafted to please both Advani as well as the hard-liners, it failed to clear the air completely.
Murli Manohar Joshi also approved the revised resolution. Joshi had earlier blasted Advani for describing Jinnah as a “secular” person.
There are also reports that Sangh Parivar is considering action against VHP leader Praveen Togadia whose remarks had provoked Advani to hand in his resignation earlier this week. Togadia had described Advani as a “traitor” for praising Jinnah as a secular person.
Ahead of the BJP meeting, the party vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu had signaled that the crisis would blow over by the evening. Dismissing reports about reservations voiced by RSS over the new resolution and its opposition to Advani’s return as the BJP president, Naidu said: “There is no interference from the RSS and a wrong perception is being sought to be created on the issue.”
Advani, formerly known as a Hindu hawk, has been seeking to steer the BJP to the middle of the political spectrum to boost chances of its return to power after its ouster last year at the polls by the left-backed Congress party.
