The Hindu : At Oxford and Bhuj, two styles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 03, 2002

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At Oxford and Bhuj, two styles

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI DEC. 2. In his election speech at Bhuj two days ago, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, was critical of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's speech at Oxford University on November 29. Mr. Advani sought to chastise Ms. Gandhi for speaking critically, indirectly, of the BJP on foreign soil. However, on balance, it is Mr. Advani who is guilty of overlooking his obligations as the Deputy Prime Minister.

A few years ago, it was Madan Lal Khurana. As a member of the Vajpayee Government, Mr. Khurana had daringly invited Pakistan to name the time and place for a kind of "nuclear'' shootout.

The utter irresponsibility of that statement was so obvious and so embarrassing that the Prime Minister eased Mr. Khurana out of the Cabinet at the first available opportunity.

Now four years later, Mr. Advani seems to be competing with Mr. Khurana. The other day, he, more or less, invited Pakistan to have it out in a "fourth war". That he was speaking at an election rally in Gujarat in no way dilutes the seriousness of the pronouncement.

There is the same sense of embarrassment over Mr. Advani's statement that was perceptible at the time of Mr. Khurana's indiscretion. The Prime Minister's refusal, during his interaction with the media in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, to comment on Mr. Advani's "fourth war"-invitation, was an indictment enough. Is it is a sign of desperation that the BJP is not exactly doing all that well, notwithstanding Narendra Modi's rhetoric of hate? Was Mr. Advani rattled by the meagre gathering of about 3,000 at what was billed as the kick-off rally?

Or, is it that Mr. Advani finds himself having to compete with Mr. Modi for the "strong man'' space; does he feel threatened by the Modi hawkishness and is now trying to keep one step ahead of Mr. Modi? After all, Mr. Advani knows only too well that the caretaker Chief Minister has successfully called the so-called "high command's" bluff in the matter of Haren Pandya. If Mr. Modi's supporters are to be believed he did not even care to return Mr. Advani's call.

Contrast the tone and tenor of Mr. Advani's Bhuj speech with the thoughtfulness in Sonia Gandhi's speech a day earlier at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Granted Ms. Gandhi was addressing an audience intrinsically different from the one at Bhuj; but her unwillingness to pull her punches for the sake of political expediency was noteworthy. She spelt out a vision of India and given the current climate of intolerance her Oxford lecture was an exercise in political courage.

Whereas Mr. Advani appears to be mired in the past and its animosities, Ms. Gandhi talks in a forward-looking tone, building on the achievements of Indian democracy and its inclusive prescriptions.

If the burden of leadership is to lead, rather than to be led by the mob, Mr. Advani has failed that test in Bhuj. By contrast, Ms. Gandhi did her party well by debunking the "clash of civilisations" doctrine. "The Indian experience strongly disapproves of this approach. The concept of a deep fault line across world religions and its resulting inevitably in conflict lends itself to mischievous distortions and misrepresentations, both internationally and within our own society. Complex political, social and economic realities cannot be reduced to a simplistic confrontation between religions." Well spoken.

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