NEW Delhi,November 21 :ON A bright Sunday morning, BJP patriarch L. K. Advani pitched his tent bang in the middle of Ramlila Maidan — the site where Anna Hazare’s agitation had earlier brought forth corruption as the central political issue against the UPA.
Reading out a collective pledge against black money by NDA MPs at a rally to mark the culmination of his 40- day- long Jan Chetna Yatra, this was Advani’s most forceful effort to resist attempts to edge him out of the PM race.
Tamil Nadu CM and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa’s move to send her emissary, parliamentary party chief M. Thambidurai, for an informal meeting of the NDA ahead of the rally only lent credence to Advani’s claim for the top slot. So, though the AIADMK is not officially part of the BJP- led NDA, Thambidurai sat prominently among other NDA leaders on the stage and joined them in attacking the Congress- led UPA government on graft.
The proposal to project Advani as the helmsman has recently been backed by others in the BJP such as Rajnath Singh and Jaswant Singh. Shatrughan Sinha also asserted that the octogenarian leader was the best person to be PM in an NDA government.
Another new ally of the NDA, the Republican Party of India ( RPI), was represented at the rally by its leader Ramdas Athawale. He, incidentally, asserted that he did not care who became PM in an NDA led government after the 2014 general elections as long as his party got “ two Cabinet berths”. Athawale and Thambidurai joined NDA leaders Sharad Yadav of the JD ( U), Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena and Manjit Singh of the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Delhi unit in hailing Advani’s agitation. The BJP was, of course, represented in full force by party president Nitin Gadkari, leaders of the Opposition in both Houses Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley as well as Rajnath among others.
The idea to read out an NDA pledge against graft and the MPs’ intent to declare that they had no black money stashed away in foreign banks apparently occurred to Advani on Saturday night.
Clearly positioning himself as the tallest leader of the alliance, Advani then pumped his fist to the cheering crowds at the maidan as he read out the pledge that all NDA MPs would give an undertaking within a week of the winter session of Parliament declaring that none of them held accounts in any foreign bank.
“ We have learnt that the list provided by the Swiss government of people holding accounts in Swiss banks also name a few MPs.
Therefore, all the 215 NDA MPs will submit a declaration to Parliament within the next 10 days stating that they have no illegal assets or bank accounts abroad,” the 84- year- old Advani said.
“ The declaration would be handed over to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari. It will read, ‘ I solemnly declare I do not have directly or indirectly any bank account or asset illegally held outside India’,” he said.
He also did not fail to inform the NDA leaders and the cheering crowds that the nation was looking to him with hope. He took it upon himself to assert that the yatra had been the most successful agitation of his political life.
“ The highlight of this yatra was the support of the people. It was surprising that even in Tamil Nadu, where we have lesser presence, people came out in large numbers. The same thing happened in Kerala,” Advani said, adding: “ I realised that the people are angry with the UPA.” Even as the speeches were being delivered at Ramlila Maidan, the Congress dubbed it as a move by Advani which had less to do with fighting graft and more with projecting himself. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the yatra was “ mere lip service” and an attempt by Advani “ to remain afloat”. He added: “ This is nothing but grand preaching without a millimetre of practice.” The BJP was, naturally, more subdued and Advani’s projection of his leadership was countered only subtly. Some BJP leaders made a mention of his advancing years, while others highlighted a “ collective” leadership.
Swaraj said: “ This yatra had two main aims: one to eradicate corruption and the second to fight the price hike that has hit our country’s women the worst.” Swaraj has always pitched herself as the most ardent admirer of Advani, but her enthusiasm inadvertently underlined the latter’s most vulnerable point — his age.
Swaraj said while they ( other BJP leaders) wanted Advani to undertake the yatra , they were worried owing to his old age.
“ When the BJP MPs were arrested despite being whistleblowers, we all had questions in our eyes which Advani ji understood.
We wanted him to go for the rally but hesitated in saying so, keeping his old age in mind. But thankfully, God has blessed him with good health,” Swaraj said.
Jaitley’s speech underlined the fact that there were many leaders in the BJP and NDA, asserting that the agitation sparked off by Advani will be carried forward by the BJP under the leadership of Gadkari and by the NDA under Advani and Sharad Yadav.
He slammed the government for trying to drag the NDA’s telecom policies into the ambit of corruption.
The rally and show of strength politically translated into Advani launching himself again as a possible candidate for being projected as PM in 2014. Unless the RSS — which has lately used the argument of “ generational change” to edge Advani out — intervenes, it looks like he will be unstoppable.
Thanks MT