Advani Should Exit Gracefully

Allow me to explain the context of my rhetorical question in my previous post in which I asked, “Is Advani merely senile is he really intent on destroying the only chance India has of getting rid of UPA/Congress raj?”

According to news reports, it appears that Advani has decided that in case the NDA comes to power, he would be the prime minister. It seems that he didn’t get the message the last time they tried this stunt of projecting him as the prime ministerial candidate. The message was simple: Advani is not a winning horse. Full points for stamina but they don’t declare winners based on how many races the horse has entered and for how many years. This horse is getting a little bit too long in the tooth and it is time to put it out to pasture.

To be very sure, I am not against Advani. From what I hear, he may be a fine person with a stellar CV and a spotless character. Good for him and all that, but the truth is that there are others with equally impressive credentials — and equally unlikely to impress the voters sufficiently to vote the BJP/NDA to power.

I am not for or against Advani. For that matter, I am not even for or against the BJP. What I am definitely against is the Congress/UPA/Gandhi-Maino Dynasty/Manmohan Singh combine. I am against the whole bunch of thieving cretins because they are hell-bent on destroying India.

If Advani could lead the BJP/NDA to power at the center, I would be cheering him on in the streets of Delhi. But he does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of helping the BJP come to power. If under his leadership the BJP suffered a defeat in 2009, in the next one the BJP will suffer a resounding defeat of the kind — as they say in Hindi — that naani yaad dila daygi.

The direction India was headed in 2003-4 was promising and prosperous. That all changed with the UPA in 2004. India started a U-turn back towards Nehruvian socialism, which is a tried and trusted method of impoverishing a nation. Thanks to the BJP and their incompetency, the Congress came back to power in 2009 and UPA-2 continued the regression. All the gains that India had made during the NDA rule were given up and India is now poised to fail miserably. India cannot afford another Congress/UPA government. If they come back to power, it would be game set and match for India. It would be over and all that would remain is for the fat lady to sing.

I appreciate the compulsions that Advani has. He has longed to be the PM for donkey’s years. He wants a turn at the steering wheel. It would be an immense disappointment to him if he never gets there. More importantly, his family members must be eager to see him fulfill his ambition because that would allow them further opportunities: ambition is contagious.

But at what cost, I ask you. Should a person’s ambition blind him to reality? Should the future of India be jeopardized — which it surely will if Antonia Maino aka Sonia Gandhi and her brood continue the rape of the land — merely to satisfy the personal ambitions of an old man?

Yes, Advani is old. Too old to take on the burden of hauling a country out of a deep hole. India needs not just someone with a great CV but also someone who can put in the 18-hour days, work under relentless pressure, make very tough choices, face up to ruthless enemies at home and abroad, be brave to say it like it is, be a beacon of hope, deliver a vision that motivate Indians to do what has to be done, and more.

Advani is not being served well by this advisers and his family members if they are fueling his continued ambition to be the PM. History will judge him very unkindly if his attempt ultimately results in the continuance of Maino/UPA rule and India’s inevitable decline.

Advani is no doubt held in high regard by many people, both within and outside the Sangha Parivar. Indeed, I myself have immense respect for him. However that respect does not prevent me from seeing that he could be instrumental in Maino/UPA victory in the next general elections.

I beg of you, Mr Advani, for the sake of the nation, please go. I beg you in the name of all that is holy and good and decent, please go. Please go because we would like to remember you as a patriot who worked tirelessly for the country and did what is right for the country, and not as someone who sacrificed the country in the vain hope of being the PM for a few years.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist. View all posts by Atanu Dey