'Advani throws BJP into crisis'

The timing of Mr Advani's comments is being questioned

LK Advani's offer to resign as party president has plunged India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party into an unprecedented crisis, according to the Indian media.

News of Mr Advani stepping down features widely on the front pages of all the national dailies, with many saying it could divide the BJP.

"Jinnah Partitions BJP" is the banner headline on the front of the Asian Age, referring to Mr Advani's controversial comments on the Pakistan independence leader which led to his resignation offer.

It is a move which all agree will have major repercussions for the future of the party.

The development can push BJP into the throes of a crisis by setting off a potentially debilitating and prolonged war of succession The Times of India

"LK Advani's resignation has brought the BJP to its day of reckoning," writes The Indian Express.

"Advani's remarks on Jinnah have precipitated a crisis that was long brewing."

The Times of India says: "The development can push BJP into the throes of a crisis by setting off a potentially debilitating and prolonged war of succession as well as by straining its equations with other [alliance] partners."

Why?

But many are also questioning Mr Advani's original comments, which are seen as a major shift from his own and his party's long-held position.

It is possible to agree with many of his critics who insist that Mr Advani has never had any core beliefs and that his thinking and politics were always shaped by a shrewd discerning of the prejudices of the day The Hindu

"Why did Advani risk becoming a pariah in his constituency by calling Mohammed Ali Jinnah a 'great man'?" questions the Calcutta-based The Telegraph newspaper.

The Hindu writes that what is incongruous is that Mr Advani's historical revisionism strikes at the very root of the ideology of Hindu nationalist groups close to the BJP.

"Now Mr Advani has come uncomfortably close to departing, suddenly, without any warning, from the prescribed orthodoxy. Why? And why, of all places in Pakistan?"

Some believe that LK Advani feels that the time is right for the BJP, and himself, to shed its hardline past to spread its appeal.

"It is possible to agree with many of his critics who insist that Mr Advani has never had any core beliefs and that his thinking and politics were always shaped by a shrewd discerning of the prejudices of the day," says The Hindu.

The Times of India goes one step further.

"The sudden reappraisal of Jinnah was part of a well thought out plan to shake off [Mr Advani's] hardliner image, which was seen to be working to his disadvantage in the Premier League power game."

Fallout

The Indian Express believes that Mr Advani can still emerge unscathed from the crisis.

It is to Advani's great credit that he has not only stood up to the RSS but has done so on a serious matter of principle Indian Express

The paper says it is to Mr Advani's "great credit" that he has chosen a matter of principle on which to stand up to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist organisation from which the BJP draws its ideological roots.

"What is at stake in this contest is the very soul of the BJP," the paper says.

"Will it be a party that is dominated by rabble rousers, fanatics and pinched-up ideologues...?

"Or will it become a genuine right of centre party that is capable of governing India?"

The Indian media is also divided in its appraisal of the impact this crisis will have on the peace process between India and Pakistan.

The Times believes it will have repercussions for the BJP's stance on the peace process, restricting the freedom the government has had until now

"A change of guard may see BJP trying to reclaim its 'tough-on-national-security' platform", it writes.

But the Indian Express differs.

It says Mr Advani has irrevocably altered the discourse on Pakistan.

"He has signalled unambiguously that India has come to terms with the partition of the subcontinent.

"So as a national debate on Jinnah, the partition and the nature of Pakistan unfolds, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has a huge opportunity to boldly experiment with new ideas."