Scraps Stuffs - Random musings from apun ka desh

BJP President Advani's visit to Pakistan and Karachi, his comments on Jinnah while he was there, the subsequent firestorm of protests, his resignation as BJP President in a fit of pique and his eventual action of taking back his resignation is old hat now. I was struck by many things while I note down below, in random order

1. L. K. Advani showed gross error in judgement in going to Pakistan in the first place. For a former home minister and wannabe prime minister of India, to have displayed such bad timing and utter lack of judgement in visiting Pakistan at the same time that the Hurriyat was, is plain astonishing. Perhaps he felt that age was catching up with him and time was running out. Maybe he felt like visiting his home town before he kicked the bucket. Who knows what went on in his senile mind, whatever it was, it wasn't well thought out or reasoned. The GoI position was that the Hurriyat members (those that chose to go) would only be issued passports to visit Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and that it would be a breach of trust for them to visit Pakistan proper. They have finally visited Pakistan proper so I wonder if Advani was suitable embarassed by this or not. Anyway, this wasn't the time for him to visit.
2. LKA needs to get his head examined. Why on earth did he have to spew the idiocity that he spewed? There are no doubts in my mind that Jinnah partitioned the country purely for his own selfish means and motive. Although he may have been secular in his personal life (and that is by no means certain), in his political life he certainly wasn't. And his political life is what we should all be concerned about, because that is what affected India the most. Who cares if he ate pork, or drank wine, or did other stuff that was un-Islamic as long as he believed that Hindus and Muslims cannot live alongside each other. Jinnah was most certainly not secular and to call him that is foolishness of the highest order. Unless LKA was planning to target the Congress with such a statement, implying that it was the Congress lust and greed for power in an independent India that drove Jinnah to articulate the two nation theory.
3. LKA should have been a man, stood by his words and pooh-poohed all suggestions of taking back his resignation. He is today exposed as a wimp and his credibility is at an all time low. This was the time his party needed him. The BJP is still shell shocked over the defeat it faced at the hustings more than a year back. It is rudderless and consequently directionless. Although its the only major party with a clean second rung leadership, there is a lot of infighting going on among all the "stalwarts" of the second rung. LKA is considered a very good organizer and was expected to set this right (although I didn't see any evidence whatsoever that he was even heading in the right direction on this). He showed very poor judgement in rocking the boat at this juncture.
4. LKA, ABV and the spent force Jaswant Singh should resign and make way for people with more credibility as they have very little left. ABV couldn't lead his party to victory, LKA shows poor judgement and we don't want such a guy in government, let alone as a home minister or a prime minister. Jaswant Singh has nothing to show for all his dances with "my good friend Strobe Talbott" except F-16s to Pakistan.
5. RSS needs to shut up and stay in the background as much as possible. The media is biased against them and any amount of good ideas/intentions etc. coming from them will be twisted against them. Best they keep quiet and influence the BJP as much as they can - the five star culture needs to be toned down, and the leaders actually need to be seen and heard (witness the deafening silence of the largest opposition party here in Karnataka).
6. VHP needs to be jettisoned as soon as possible. Ditto Bajrang Dal. More a liability than they are worth. Idiots all of them.