Leader of Opposition L K Advani has spent more than 60 years in politics. He has been a witness and a participant in great historical events of modern independent India. He recounts his career in his memoirs, My Country My Life, which was published recently. What is the politics behind writing this book and will it help him in his prime ministerial ambitions? Bhupendra Chaubey, CNN-IBN's National Bureau Chief, chatted on this topic with IBNLive readers on Thursday, March 27. Here is the full transcript of the chat.
Kapil: Don’t you think that in the next election Advani should not raise the issues of Ayodhya or Hinduism, as in Gujarat Narendra Modi has proved that good governance can win polls?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Ayodhya is not an issue anymore for the BJP. It’s more of lip service that’s being done. It’s image and track record and a good coalition that matters
Amarnath Tewary: How difficult it will be for Advani to get out of his hardliner image? And, can his entire political career be judged through few thousand words written after a well thought of idea and plan?
Bhupendra Chaubey: The book is an attempt made by Advani to put a few things straight about himself. He wants to correct that impression about himself that he is just a hardliner.
Sundarji: Advani has a penchant for putting foot in the mouth inadvertently many a times, but can the tiger change his spots now?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Tiger has indeed changed his spots. Advani is the kind of politician who will never say ‘no comment’ to any question.
KR: Isn’t it possible that his attempt of an image makeover through this book may actually backfire. Instead of getting wider acceptance he may end up loosing most of his vote-bank.
Bhupendra Chaubey: The hardliner debate is now getting old. I don’t think people look at Advani just through the glasses of Babri Masjid. I don’t think it will do any damage to him, though I also don’t think that it will bring tremendous gains.
Rosa Basanti: The BJP has still not figured out why India didn't shine for them. How would this book help Advani attain his prime ministerial ambitions?
Bhupendra Chaubey: India shining was a tactical blunder made by the party. They admit it too in as many words. This is a book meant to clear some perceptions about Advani in the minds of people. Read it to see whether you manage to change your perception about him. Advani will become the Prime Minister if he can put together a good coalition. The days of identity politics are over. Just like the days of individual driven politics.
KR: Who among the second generation of BJP leaders is the most ideal PM candidate after Advani?
Bhupendra Chaubey: First let Advani get elected as the PM. We can then think of his successor. Someday though I would like to do a web chat on whether Narendra Modi is a deserving successor to Advani.
Sunil Mallya: LK Advani has always been projected by the media as a pro-Hindutva leader and as the chief architect of Babri demolition. But now it seems times have changed. Do you think the book and comments during his visit to Pakistan has played a role in this? Or is it something else?
Bhupendra Chaubey: India has changed, and hence Advani has changed too. He had an image in the 90s of being a hardliner, in 2008 all that is changed.
Adhitya: Sir, do you view Advani's rise to the helm of the BJP a symbol of a further shift to the "Right" vis-a-vis AB Vajpayee?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Not at all. Advani of 2008 is not the rabble-rouser of 1992. He is a much more mellowed, milder version. The BJP's policies will be the same one as Vajpayee. So what if there is no poetry involved.
Harikesh: Do you feel that the release of book after the Union Budget will give some limelight to BJP? Some times it seems that UPA, in between Congress as the ruler and the Left as Opposition, is eating away all the attraction.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Any party that is in power will always be a lot more in limelight and hence get more attraction. But the book will I am sure will create a little more impact for the BJP.
Govind: Why does not he think of a successor?
Bhupendra Chaubey: He does, and I get a sneaky suspicion that he has already made up his mind. He just doesn’t want to reveal it since he feels it might create an all out war.
Aditya Shivkumar: World over we find people entering politics at an early stage. Why is it in India that we are stuck with the dogma of old is gold?
Bhupendra Chaubey: In India there is always that feeling that the vetran knows more. When you go to a restaurant to eat, you will always find that the grand dad will occupy the central seat on the table. The problem is that we have not had a group of really young leaders. However if you look at the states, youngsters are doing well. Mayawati and Nitish Kumar may not be an Obama or the Sarkozy, but they do belong to that group that has come up on its own. At the end of the day you are looking at a situation where one party has ruled this country for all but 10 years of our independence.
Tarun Sharma: Advani’s career is full of conflict. How can he wipe out the Ram Janambhoomi issue? Advani has a dual personality—he doesn't stick to his words. His statements on Jinnah and Ayodhya, an issue over which innocents died but politicians got away.
Bhupendra Chaubey: That’s been the tragedy of Advani. To me he is like a Dilip Kumar, the ultimate tragedy hero. You have to give it to him that he has done what very few people could manage to do. Present the alternate argument.
Ashish: Why does L.K Advani goes in for so many interviews in a year, Sonia Gandhi and other top level leaders do not give more then two interviews in a year. I think he should avoid media if he cannot play it properly.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Why should he not give these interviews? A seasoned politician must give as many interviews as possible since the people must know what you stand for. There is no point of living in a cocoon and being scared.
Srikanth: do you think Advani has the charisma of Vajpayee to hold the NDA together?
Bhupendra Chaubey: He has already shown his power by making himself acceptable to all and sundry within the NDA.
Manish Srivastava: Is Mr Advani in full political mode after launching his book? Can he build the Ram Mandir if he becomes the Prime Minister?
Bhupendra Chaubey: I don’t think anyone will ever build a temple in Ayodhya. It’s not possible. Whether the courts or the politicians, no one will ever have a clear view on that.
Tenny123: Who will win in Advani versus Rahul Gandhi contest? After much Gandhi family bashing, we must admit that Rahul has been able to connect to larger masses and all sections of people. Everywhere I go, I have noticed that people from all sections are looking up to him.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Looking up to him because he is like a movie star. Not necessarily to his vision. Does Rahul Gandhi have a vision for the nation? Why doesn’t he come out with that?
Shambhoo: Do you think his book will make Adwani as acceptable to the middle class?
Bhupendra Chaubey: It is not the book, but it’s Advani’s perception on the minds of people. The delicious dilemma is that over the last two years he has actually invited the wrath of hardliners within the Sangh Parivar. Now he has the hardliners as well as the moderates with him.
Peekay: After a certain age, one becomes less productive at work and needs more rest. Why does this apply to our politicians?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Advani is one of the fittest 80-year-old politicians you will ever meet. I agree with one half of your statement that the youth must be encouraged, but I don’t think age has anything to do with productivity. Half of our cabinet is over the age of 60. The country is being managed.
Jay: Do you think the timing of release of the book is well thought of?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Advani wrote the book while still being an active politician. This was his proverbial final die, his trump card. There is nothing wrong with the timing.
Shivarama Krishnan: If becoming Prime Minister was Advani's ambition were all his previous deeds, whether good or bad, targeted towards achieving that ambition?
Bhupendra Chaubey: In politics you must always aspire for the top job, nothing wrong with that. He has spent his whole life creating new ideas. I think the book is also his attempt to create another idea.
Prashantha GK: Why is the medias are against Advani?
Bhupendra Chaubey: I must admit that the media has really given a tough time to Advani. But the beauty of the man is that he is open to criticism. You can’t criticise the Congress president though.
Arvind Singh Dotiyal: Is Advani's book a genuine piece of autobiography or mere a way to be in limelight?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Genuine autobiography with one eye on better brand building. He doesn’t need publicity—he needs to send the right kind of message.
David Mende: Don’t you think that no matter how hard Advani tries to pretend through a book or any other means, everyone knows that he is a Hindu hardliner? Will an average Hindu accept his concept of Hindu nationalism?
Bhupendra Chaubey: I recently read a report which suggested that young people are more prone to being religious. So you never know. I also don’t think that Advani is just a simple hardliner leader. He has broken quite a few myths about himself. That’s for sure.
Vishwanath: What do you think, will LK Advani become the PM ever?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Difficult but not impossible. Depends on whether they can get their coalition arithmetic right.
Adhitya: Do you subscribe do Advani’s brand of leadership and management?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Advani has been one of the foremost leaders when it comes to political management. No doubt about that. He along with Vajpayee has built the BJP. But unlike Vajpayee who revelled in charm, Advani is almost professorial in his approach.
KR: Does this book in anyway help Advani gaining wider acceptance across various sectors of the society or do his hardliner image too hard and old to be broken?
Bhupendra Chaubey: I think the hardliner or the hawkish image has ceased to be a factor in our polity. People are now not voting on the basis of religion or identity. Anyways the days of single-party rule are over and it’s a coalition that has to rule. By that logic, he has already proved his acceptance amongst various parties and hence different sections of society.
John Kottoor: Do you think Advani, with his ideology and image of being a Hindutva leader, gain political momentum? He might not go well in the vast majority of the Indian states.
Bhupendra Chaubey: Look at it this way. Suppose the Congress pitches Rahul Gandhi as its PM nominee. Whom will you then support? A 40-something young boy with no experience and just a surname to boot or will you support an 80-something granddad with tons of experience, but looking at it as his final shot at capturing power? Vajpayee and Advani are two very different leaders with very different approaches. Vajpayee, the quintessential poet, and Advani the typical back room boy. The roles are being reversed now.
Mani: When Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hijacked and taken to Amirtsar, Advani was the Home Minister? What does he say about this?
Bhupendra Chaubey: There is a full chapter in the book about this episode. He deals with it with a straight bat. He says that his hands were tied as others in the cabinet felt that the safety of passengers could not have been compromised with.
Viswanath: I believe that Advani is trying to clarify his stand on various issues. I strongly think the book published will create visibility for his broader image. Do you observe any significant changes in Advani's character over the years?
Bhupendra Chaubey: India as a nation has changed—Advani realises that. In the nineties he became a political yaatri as that was his idea of challenging the Mandal brand of politics. In 2008, mandal kamandal cannot win you votes. So Advani is now trying to project himself as a more inclusive kind of a leader. It’s ironic that for the same Jinnah issue that was used to browbeat him, he is now being commended as someone who came up with a new idea. In the book he makes that point. On Gujarat riots, he backs Narendra Modi to the hilt. In fact many years back, he had got very annoyed with me when I asked him a question related to why was he backing Modi. From then on, I think Advani has become a more patient man
Manish: Is Advani’s image change his own work or the imagination of editorial desks?
Bhupendra Chaubey: As much as people, and may I say Advani himself, blame the media for creating this so called image trap let me point out that Advani revels in this role. In a country as vast as ours, you do need a politician to come up with something new. His rath yatra in that sense did go a long way in converting India into a bipolar polity. So if this was an image building exercise, well he was pretty successful at that
Kapil:: What Advani has written of his into this book that will inspire people to elect Advani as the next PM?
Bhupendra Chaubey: Frankly I don’t think that the book is inspiring. But having said that, I do feel that it’s a book which gives you an idea of India. It puts together the various threads, different notions, all of which combine together to create India. But it doesn’t put Advani across as someone who is an awe-inspiring figure.
Srikanth: Do you feel that Advani will succeed with the new image makeover? What future do you foresee for him?
Bhupendra Chaubey: The main reason why Advani wrote this book is that he looks at himself as a very misunderstood and misrepresented politician. If you go through the entire book, you will see that he is actually trying his best to put his best foot forward. He wants to be seen as someone who is an ideas man, a visionary, not just a person who is a hardliner or a fundamentalist. There are many though who feel that if he had chosen to be more forthcoming in his book, maybe he could have been more beneficial.
