Pearls of saffron wisdom flows as Advani foresees another carpet-pull

On Friday morning in Lucknow, a rath yatra-weary Lal Kishinchand Advani took a deep look into the long lanes of future.

And saw murder, pure and simple. Of a hardly-three-month old infant -- the United Front government.

"I foresee another Congress bid to capture power soon," the Bharatiya Janata Party president announced to newspersons, "The present situation cannot apparently continue for long."

While the journos stood gobsmacked at so assured an assurance, Advani went on.

"The Janata Dal is passing through the most serious crisis in its life," he said, "The current phase of instability can affect Bihar as well as the Centre."

Pens raised madly across notepads, and eager scribes waited for more pearls of wisdom. They were not long in coming.

"The current political instability is in no way related to the existence of a coalition government at the Centre," saffron wisdom continued flowing, "but the fact that the largest party is sustaining a government of minorities from outside."

"But how long will the government continue?" a scribe asked, when the eloquent Advani paused for breath.

That, however, was a question which the BJP chief cared not to answer. So he quipped, "Even the best doctors cannot say anything about the fate of patients in the intensive care unit!"

The real solution to the political instability, Advani went on, lay in going to the people and seeking another mandate. But, alas! none except the BJP was willing for that.

''We are not concerned about the JD's fate. Anyway it's almost no more, having lost it's hold on five states including Uttar Pradesh,'' he said.

The real problem, according to him, was Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral "who is dangling in uncertainty, providing encouragement to the Congress's unfilled ambitions."

Had the prime minister not encouraged Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and let Central Bureau of Investigation Director Joginder Singh have his head instead of removing him, the Laloo crisis would have been solved.

The BJP national executive will meet in New Delhi on July 26 and 27 to take stock of the political situation as well as that of corruption.

''We shall discuss the corruption issue at length and decide whether the agitation launched by the party in Bihar should be limited to Bihar or extended to the country as a whole,'' Advani said.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the performance of the BJP-Bahujan Samaj Party coalition in Uttar Pradesh, the leader said, "By and large, yes. However, because of my preoccupation with the rath yatra, I have not been able to go deep into the performance of any government."

What about the economic policy at the Centre? Was he happy about it?

No, no way! In fact, former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and his finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh had done great disservice to the country -- they shattered the nation's self-confidence.

''Foreign influence has been increasing not only in our economic policies but in politics as well,'' he said. The BJP, he said, was all for economic liberalisation -- but not this variety. ''Our enthusiasm," Advani said, "is related to abandoning the licence and quota raj. The government should give up its stress on the public sector and opt for a centrally controlled economy."