Differences with Vajpayee on Ayodhya, Modi's removal: Advani

Senior BJP leader L K Advani has said he had some political differences with his long-time colleague and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpyee, especially on the Ayodhya movement and the removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after the Godhra riots.

“He (Vajpayee) had reservations about the BJP getting directly associated with the Ayodhya movement. But, he accepted the collective decision of the party — showing that he was a thorough democrat, by conviction and temperament,” Advani said in an article on Vajpayee, who turned 85 today.

The BJP and especially Advani had strongly objected to the recent indictment of Vajpayee by the Liberhan Commission for the Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992.

The other instance mentioned by Advani where the two senior leaders did not see eye to eye was on the issue of removal of Modi after the riots in Gujarat that followed the Godhra train burning.

“Atalji was among those in the party who thought that Modi should be asked to quit. I was convinced, after talking to a large number of people in Gujarat, that Modi was being unfairly targeted. He was, in my opinion, more sinned against than sinning,” Advani said.

However, Advani, who was in jail with Vajpayee during the Emergency and later served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Vajpayee government, praised his senior as a man who “would never go ahead with an idea if he knew that I had a different view on the same”.

Vajpayee had reportedly told his party colleagues after the Gujarat riots that as the chief minister, Modi had not done enough to control the violence.

This was recently recalled by senior BJP leader Arun Shourie in an interview, where he said that Vajpayee had asked him to talk to Advani on Modi’s removal. Shourie quoted Advani as saying this would create a upheaval.

In the article written for the Indian Express, Advani said Vajpayee’s oratorial skills gave him a complex which he suffered for several years.

“Atalji, in fact, developed within me a complex which stuck on for many years — that I cannot deliver a public speech, although I may be able to draft resolutions and write articles — a complex that made me resist the offer to become the party president in 1972,” Advani said.