A permanent friendship in an unfriendly profession

Politics is a game of shrewdness and smartness. It is a game where everyone's aim is to grab power and each pursues a different agenda to achieve it. There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics and is definitely the dirtiest profession. However, it is ironically the most effective means of bringing in rapid changes that affect lives of a country or state. Many times when we have to clean the sewage we need to get into it. This is not a mandatory requirement in cleansing dirt,but surely an effective and time tested one. So is the profession of politics. In such an unfriendly atmosphere where every relation is made or broken for greedy purposes, one can rarely expect a true friendship to exist.

India, post independence has seen 2 such friendship relations. One, Nehru-Sardar, and the other Vajpayee-Advani. The timing of presence of both these pairs has changed our country in many ways, both for the better and worse. Although this article is not to highlight the Nehru-Sardar relationship, it is definitely to highlight the other example.

Both being RSS members and having served the public life for 50 years, there is no match for Advani and Vajpayee. Both have seen the most turbulent and smooth sailing times. They have faced a lot of events, disasters both in opposition and in power. What however remains an inspiration to all true friends is the understanding these two shared. I am waiting to read the book by Advani -"My country My life" not just to learn politics,but also to understand "a case of friendship in an unfriendly profession".

Leave apart the excerpts from the book, let me tell you that both these tall leaders did have differences in opinion over Modi, Kandhahar Hijacking, Ayodhya, etc. Differences must come in friendships so that they become stronger. But they never made them public (It is only now Advani has written because many people pressurized him to say what he feels about his friend Vajpayee). They conducted themselves in such a disciplined manner that their own partymen must learn from it. They never split their relationship nor the party. Even when Vajpayee was to be chosen as PM in 1996,1998 and 1999, Advani could have raised a rebellion because it was he who brought BJP to power. He never did so. He trusted his friend and he(Vajpayee) was the most acceptable face amongst all parties supporting it. Their own party people were divided between these 2 leaders in 2003 and post 2004 debacle as to who should lead. Despite all this, Advani and Vajpayee never lost temper nor accused each other of anything. They were matured and seasoned enough that they handled such situations in an audacious manner. If power was the only reason, Advani must have broken the relationship with Vajpayee after NDA defeat in 2004. He never chose to do so. Some blamed Vajpayee for Muslim appeasement while some for ignoring Hinutva by Advani. But these blame games were never done personally by both of them. Even during this crisis, their friendship never withered. Be it emergency, loss of power for 2 times (1979 and 1980's), they never cared for power at the cost of their friendship.

Advani said in a speech,"3 things that made the world look around India are 1) continuation of democracy 2) Ending of license permit raj and hence opening up of indian economy by Narasimha Rao 3)Pokhran II by Vajpayee". This statement reflects the openness of a leader who accepted the rival parties achievement and also that of his own colleague. Advani never told to anyone or any public forum that it was he who brought BJP to power and hence has the right to become PM. On the other hand it was Vajpayee who once stated that the next PM candidate is Advani. The media made a hue and cry about it and created a rift that never existed. Both leaders even at that time were strong and their bonding was never shaken. They always discussed, came to a consensus and then swung into action. This sort of seeking clarity amidst confusion and differences is unparalleled in Indian politics. Even sardar and nehru did not discuss many times because they did not share a close rappo as much as Advani-Vajpayee share.

Some of the friendships in politics which have vanished into a vacuum for the sake of power include Tony Blair-Gordon Brown, MGR-Karunanidhi, Deve Gowda and Siddaramiah and many others. What is unique to these two is that they have always found to clear their differences through discussions . In one of the excerpts I read, Advani says that he could make out anger and happiness from Vajpayee's face and vice versa and then the first thing they did was to sit down and analyze why.

Advani openly admitting that Vajpayee is truly his mentor, his leader and his inspiration cannot be simply done just for any gains for this statement by advani was made both in power and in opposition. Similarly Vajpayee admitting that he is a much misunderstood man and he is an all time comrade and colleague is a further confirmation from the other friend.

What else is more required for a friendship to sustain? Not how they stand in happiness, but in sadness and darkness. Both Vajpayee and Advani are living legends and testimonies to Indian politics post 1947. Their political life is as big as an ocean where they saw deadly sharks and friendly dolphins swim together. Their personal friendship is also as deep as an ocean, not the one that has abyss at the bottom, but one that has endless trust and understanding.

Today, I feel that this unfriendly profession has given me a role model of true friendship. All True friends in the world must at least appreciate that we have a living example of a strong friendship from a profession that breeds enmity, jealousy and hypocrisy. Perhaps as Lord Krishna said- "Learn to be like a lotus that stands unmoved and untouched by the dirt in which it grows", Vajpayee and Advani's friendship is the lotus that will continue to stand amidst the filthy politics forever, untouched and unmoved. Their party symbol is perhaps the symbolic representation of this friendship.