Reconcliation to give BJP a boost

Even though the bitter and public fallout between the BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani and the party’s PM nominee Narendra Modi had become the stuff of legend of sort, the saffron camp’s Iron Man has finally relented and lavished praise on the thrice-victorious Gujarat chief minister, now firmly on his way to occupy the top post in the country. Advani’s reconciliation with Modi, albeit coming after the aggressive and younger leader has been duly crowned the undisputed supremo of the BJP, and by extension, the saffron camp, nevertheless is a welcome development that can recharge the saffron brigade and help them put forward a united front to take on the corruption-ridden UPA government. Advani’s public praise of Modi, on the eve of the one-time protégé’s birthday, is a clear sign that the Hindutva party is determined to put its unified weight behind him, in order to fight a tough battle in the forthcoming Assembly and national elections. Evidently, it took Advani a lot of persuasion to concede that the time has indeed come for Modi, who has managed to enthuse the top bosses of mammoth corporate houses and the lowest cadres of the Sangh Parivar, including the BJP’s ideological spring well and the reservoir of political Hindutva, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

It is a fact that a massive section of the Indian people, particularly its teeming middle class, is perfectly at ease when it comes to putting behind the besmirched history of 2002 Gujarat riots and willing to give Modi a chance. The BJP leader’s development mantra, as well as his swaying of the business sector, has worked like a charm to revive the sagging spirits of the India Inc, even though Modi is at least several months away from taking on the powers in New Delhi, if his party wins the elections in 2014 that is. It is good that Advani has, at last, come to terms with larger public mood.