On Sunday L.K. Advani took a decisive first step in restoring the electability of the BJP and, for that matter, the NDA. His interview to The Indian Express on the country’s relationship with the US and the Indo-US nuclear agreement has rescued the BJP from the sins of hyperbole. More important, it has contributed immeasurably towards the party’s re-identification as a dispassionate upholder of the national interest.

Coming against the backdrop of a looming general election, Advani’s bid to distance the BJP from the hysterical anti-Americanism unleashed by both the Left and some over-zealous members of his own party is fraught with great political significance. Ever since Prakash Karat sparked off the August crisis and destabilised the UPA government, there has been disquiet in the middle classes and India’s Establishment at the BJP’s inability to connect with those who perceive it as the ruling party-in-waiting. It wasn’t the scholarly objection to the fine print of the Hyde Act and 123 agreement that troubled the BJP’s natural constituency. The anxieties stemmed from the unmistakable impression that the principal opposition party was both indistinguishable from the Left and acting out of cussedness.

The BJP’s perceived hostility to the US has proved beneficial to the Congress. First, it has boosted the image of the prime minister as a dedicated moderniser who is not afraid of taking a tough stand to further India’s national interests. This perception may not carry across the whole country but, as various opinion polls suggest, it has influenced urban India strongly. Second, the belief that reneging on the nuclear agreement at this late stage will lead to a complete erosion of India’s trustworthiness has set off alarm bells in corporate India. Despite heading a government that has faltered over reforms, the fear has triggered a rally of India’s stakeholders behind the government. Their corresponding antipathy to the Left has also rubbed off on the BJP.

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