03-12-2008, 11:27 AM
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--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Advani's book gives BJP sleepless nights
12 Mar 2008, 0000 hrs IST,TNN
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NEW DELHI: Memories can be a mixed bag, but BJP's recent experience of memoirs penned by its leaders has been entirely forgettable.
With Jaswant Singh's "US mole" in the P V Narasimha Rao PMO goof-up still rankling, party leaders are waiting for L K Advani's forthcoming "self-portrait" with crossed fingers.
The BJP veteran and prime ministerial nominee's book, titled My Country, My Life , promises to reveal Advani's account of some of the more tumultuous phases of his political life, both in power and Opposition. Events like the Kandahar hostage swap, the Jinnah episode, the Advani-Vajpayee relationship and the failed Agra summit will figure in the book.
While there is a sense of curiosity and anticipation over an insider's account of milestones in politics, and Advani's revelations are expected to be instructive, the possibility of fresh controversy is worrying BJP brass. It is felt that even "factual" accounts, which might seem innocuous enough, might end up giving political opponents an opening.
Senior party leaders point out that BJP had been pushed on the backfoot for almost an entire session of Parliament when Jaswant Singh's A Call To Honour spoke of a mole who accessed information in the Rao PMO.
He was subjected to sustained barracking by the ruling party with PM Manmohan Singh daring the former foreign minister to name the American implant. BJP had to repeatedly fall back on the thin defence that Jaswant Singh had not actually used the word "mole".
In the current instance, Advani only let his colleagues know recently that a memoir was in the works. While some feel that a book was not at all needed, others wonder whether the enterprise could have waited a little longer. The publisher's promotional remarks promising that chapters on terrorism, Agra summit, Kargil war and the Jinnah controversy would be "particularly riveting" have hardly helped settle the nerves of BJP leaders. They are now wondering what exactly is in store when the book is released.
There are, it is felt, quite a few minefields that the book can set off. The behind-the-scenes events of the botched Agra summit with Pervez Musharraf has always been seen in the backdrop of the Pakistan president's charge that "hardliners" in A B Vajpayee's Cabinet sabotaged a breakthrough. The highly controversial decision to release three hardcore terrorists in exchange for the hijacked airliner, IC 814, generated accounts of Advani's resistance to set free a much higher number.
The BJP's relationship with RSS has also been a rich source of juicy controversies with Advani himself having to intervene to hose down saffron infighting.
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Advani's book gives BJP sleepless nights12 Mar 2008, 0000 hrs IST,TNN
Print Save EMail Write to Editor
NEW DELHI: Memories can be a mixed bag, but BJP's recent experience of memoirs penned by its leaders has been entirely forgettable.
With Jaswant Singh's "US mole" in the P V Narasimha Rao PMO goof-up still rankling, party leaders are waiting for L K Advani's forthcoming "self-portrait" with crossed fingers.
The BJP veteran and prime ministerial nominee's book, titled My Country, My Life , promises to reveal Advani's account of some of the more tumultuous phases of his political life, both in power and Opposition. Events like the Kandahar hostage swap, the Jinnah episode, the Advani-Vajpayee relationship and the failed Agra summit will figure in the book.
While there is a sense of curiosity and anticipation over an insider's account of milestones in politics, and Advani's revelations are expected to be instructive, the possibility of fresh controversy is worrying BJP brass. It is felt that even "factual" accounts, which might seem innocuous enough, might end up giving political opponents an opening.
Senior party leaders point out that BJP had been pushed on the backfoot for almost an entire session of Parliament when Jaswant Singh's A Call To Honour spoke of a mole who accessed information in the Rao PMO.
He was subjected to sustained barracking by the ruling party with PM Manmohan Singh daring the former foreign minister to name the American implant. BJP had to repeatedly fall back on the thin defence that Jaswant Singh had not actually used the word "mole".
In the current instance, Advani only let his colleagues know recently that a memoir was in the works. While some feel that a book was not at all needed, others wonder whether the enterprise could have waited a little longer. The publisher's promotional remarks promising that chapters on terrorism, Agra summit, Kargil war and the Jinnah controversy would be "particularly riveting" have hardly helped settle the nerves of BJP leaders. They are now wondering what exactly is in store when the book is released.
There are, it is felt, quite a few minefields that the book can set off. The behind-the-scenes events of the botched Agra summit with Pervez Musharraf has always been seen in the backdrop of the Pakistan president's charge that "hardliners" in A B Vajpayee's Cabinet sabotaged a breakthrough. The highly controversial decision to release three hardcore terrorists in exchange for the hijacked airliner, IC 814, generated accounts of Advani's resistance to set free a much higher number.
The BJP's relationship with RSS has also been a rich source of juicy controversies with Advani himself having to intervene to hose down saffron infighting.