So far silent, L.K. Advani has now chosen to echo sections of the BJP’s rank and file, calling the Malegaon probe “politically motivated and unprofessional” and questioning the interrogation of Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant-Colonel Shrikant Purohit. Instead of letting Rajnath Singh wield the megaphone on behalf of the more fanatical subset of the Sangh Parivar, Advani has staked his own reputation on the matter — something that a putative future prime minister can ill afford to do.

The BJP’s bind is eye-catching: discovering, unpleasantly, that terrorism is indeed religion-blind, they are now forced into the absurd position of backpedalling on all their fiery anti-terror rhetoric, while simultaneously trying to throw it back at the Congress.

Advani claims that Thakur was brutally interrogated — but the aggression on the anti-terrorism squad militates against his party’s previous call that judgements must not be made prematurely in investigations in terrorism cases. By reducing the battle against terrorism to a blind clash of communities and maligning our investigative agencies, the BJP displays confusion and opportunism. But Advani has sacrificed good sense and national interest to short-term ambition — painting himself into a corner if Thakur and Purohit are, in the end, proved to be guilty — and by smearing our law and order mechanisms as politically pliable, he could inflict deep injury on the credibility of these institutions.

L.K. Advani initially had the right instinct in the Pragya Thakur case when he said the law should take its course and when he distanced his party from the former ABVP leader. The BJP’s confusion on Malegaon comes at a piquant time, with general elections not far and all political parties looking to work out the strongest electoral alliances. Nitish Kumar, whose party has been a longstanding member of the BJP-led NDA, has already indicated his discomfort with the BJP’s position, and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD is also showing discomfort with the BJP’s position. As a prime ministerial candidate who will have to balance a diverse coalition, Advani cannot afford to inject partisan venom into matters of state.