Eighty nine year-old Lal Krishna Advani spent almost all of his post-adolescent life working and helping the Bharatiya Janata Party grow. And the party has come a long way from the little known Jan Sangh party that hardly had a presence worth noting in the political domain.
However, history likes to associate him with the demolition of the medieval mosque Babri Masjid, which was brought down by karsevaks on the afternoon of December 6, 1992. Advani was in Ayodhya on the fateful day. The fall of Babri Masjid was and continues to be a significant chapter in the history and growth of the BJP in India.
But with Narendra Modi's shift to the national scene and him becoming the prime minister backed by a never-before strength in the Lok Sabha, Advani was sidelined. Along with his contemporary Murli Manohar Joshi, Advani was 'elevated' to the newly formed 'margdarshak mandal'—a committee that is meant to guide the party. But the committee has been a joke since its inception.
However, with the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday to restore trial in the Babri Masjid demolition case, the spotlight is back on Advani and Joshi, along with Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh and Union Water Resources minister Uma Bharti, among others. The verdict effectively revives the criminal conspiracy charges against them.
And, the old soldiers of the saffron brigade will now attend daily trials in the case. The Supreme Court has ordered it to be completed in the next two years.
Meanwhile, the Congress hailed the verdict, which they think will haunt the BJP. The BJP, on the other hand, appears hardly shaken, though MP Vinay Katyar smells a CBI conspiracy since it was the investigating agency that had appealed to the Supreme Court after the trial was set aside. However, he has made it clear that he will not quit.
Kalyan Singh, who was the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the current Rajasthan Governor, enjoys constitutional immunity, and will face trial once he steps down.
Interestingly, the RSS is taking the verdict in stride and does not see it as a setback. In fact, the verdict has come as a shot in the arm not only for the old soldiers who did not want to fade away, but also for the party, which faced flak as it pursued its Hindutva agenda in an increasingly connected world where their acts evoked rabid criticism.
From 'kabristan' (Modi's speech in the UP campaign) to beef ban, the going was not easy. Now, the Ram Mandir issue is out in the open and the party will be well within its rights to say they are still committed to it, with their senior leaders, in their old age, fighting it out in the courts.
Unable to do much, the party had even stopped talking about its commitment to the Ram temple in Ayodhya. For instance, Ram temple was featured in page number 41 of the total 42 pages under the heading 'cultural heritage' in the party's election manifesto of Lok Sabha 2014 elections. In the manifesto, it reiterated “its stand to explore all possibilities within the framework of the constitution to facilitate the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya”.
And with the latest developments, the supporters will find their voice and strength back.
The party can also afford to be not overly concerned about the trial that Advani, Joshi and others will face because the verdict is not a punishment of any kind. They also have a long legal recourse available to them in the form of going to the high court in case of an adverse judgement from the trial court.
Also, they can later knock at the doors of the apex court and even appeal. The case that has been going on for more than 25 years will, interestingly enough, see the trial court verdict delivered in April 2019, just in time for the next Lok Sabha polls, as the BJP and Modi get ready to fight for another term.
