Scared ... Really?

Just what did National Security Advisor M K Narayanan tell Lal Krishna Advani that he managed to prevail against the latter's desire to embark upon yet another Yatra? If something can be interposed between Advani and his yatra, it must be serious indeed. Although the BJP consoled itself with an impressive rally in Jabalpur today, it was difficult for party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar to conceal his embarrassment from the media. The BJP was faced with the threat of suicide bombers... and the party balked. The rally in Rampur, scheduled for February 11, was canceled and it became obvious that the party was nervous about Advani going into a state with such a large Muslim population. A day earlier, I wrote that terrorism does not succeed if people refuse to be terrified ... this is definitely strike one for terrorists.

Of course, Advani's personal security is of paramount importance. And moreover, the yatra would have caused the BJP's rank and file to get distracted from the main task at hand: that of retaining power in the Hindi heartland states that are due for elections at the end of the year. Advani has been on such yatras before in the recent past and they have been shown to have little effect on the ground. Instead, what should work better is the BJP's 17 "Sankalp Sandesh Vahaans" that have been asked to crisscross Uttar Pradesh over the next one and a half years for door to door canvassing. There was a time when the BJP relied on its organization ("Ek booth, dus youth") to deliver electoral victories by bringing its supporters out to vote. In the recent past, most spectacularly in 2004, the very urban middle class the BJP pampered with infrastructure and telecommunications refused to turn up at the voting booths on election day. Perhaps, Advani realized that a hastily planned and shabbily executed yatra would do little to increase the BJP's support base and expose him to grave personal risk... simply put, the yatra was just not worth the effort.

Even so, this sets a dangerous precedent. The only thing that still separates the BJP from the Congress (apart from the rhetoric over Hindu nationalism and dynasty politics) is that the Congress goes to the people only on the eve of elections, whereas the BJP runs mass contact programmes with great regularity. Over the years, Advani's yatras have contributed immensely to this culture within the party. I would hate to see this trait disappear, at which point the "Chaal, Chehra and Charitra" of the BJP would be no different from its main enemy.