There is a distinct theatrical quality to the release of BJP leader LK Advani's controversial book, "My Country My Life." Given the timing and publicity prior to the launch, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that the book is an exercise in self promotion. Considering that there has been a surfeit of media coverage accompanying the release of BJP and NDA's prime ministerial hopeful's memoirs, it is apparent that Advani is making no bones about his position as the tallest leader in the party besides hard selling himself as the country's next Prime Minister.

Though the cleverly orchestrated biographical work was meant for boosting the image of the veteran patriarch in the run up to the elections, did it come close enough to serving that purpose? The answer is an unequivocal no. Instead, the farce in the making has proved to be a political glitch for the party, giving its rivals a stick to beat it with and adding to the BJP's headache by leaving it vulnerable to scathing attacks from the UPA govt. Such an outcome, apart from pushing its prime ministerial candidate to wiggle in his own tight corner will also harm the BJP in the polls. The latest faux pas by Mr. Advani will have again produced tragic consequences for a party that has been hopping from one disaster to another.

More to the point, one is forced to wonder at the logic that coerced the grand old man of Sangh Parivar to come up with such a misadventure at a crucial point of his career. Ever since the release of his work, the BJP leader has been on a roller coaster of media frenzy giving interviews to the newspaper and Television channels right, left and centre. One probable reason may be that with Mr. Vajpayee tired and retired, he has come out of the shadow of BJP's No. 1 and is flaunting his hierarchy in the party. That probably explains his no holds barred interviews that are turning to be more damaging than his autobiography. But it is not certainly something Prime Minister in waiting could afford. While it is quite understandable that the erstwhile author is basking in the PR flush of his book and exploiting the opportunity to the hilt, but finger pointing at the expense of personal grandstanding has left his party colleagues fuming. As more skeletons are tumbling out of the BJP cupboard, they are increasingly giving him the cold shoulder by eluding him on one pretext or the other. Besides that, his assertions are providing ready-made ammunition to his opponents to corner him.

While many columnis- ts, writers and opposition leaders have been critical of the factual errors, circumspect exclusions and volitive twists in the tale, the book's cheeky script has already started to boomerang on Mr Advani and his party. His revelations about not being consulted on the Khandhar issue and his disapproval of Jaswant Singh accompanying terrorists who were swapped for passeng- ers aboard IC-814 are being viewed as a shoddy attempt to absolve himself of personal responsibility while painting his colleagues in a poor light. Resultantly, UPA Chairper- son has been in the forefront taking a dig at the BJP leader's feigned ignorance regarding the Khandhar hijacking.. "Now the then Home Minister of NDA says he was not aware of it. If he was not aware of it, why does this happen ? What are we to understand ? That the then PM did not trust him. Why didn't he trust him", she is reported to have said while addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Dungarpur.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister in waiting while talking to Karan Thapar in a television interview spoke about the strained relations he shared with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and how difficult it was to bridge the gap. But it was only after a few days to the complete bewelderment of everybody that he went to her residence with a straight face and gifted her a copy of his book. While this generous gesture did not cut up any ice with the UPA chairperson, all he got as a reward were sniggers at his back by his own party men as well as Congress leaders.

Mr Advani's recent revalations to a TV channel that he was not aware that Mr Jaswant Singh would be on the plane to Khandhar has been the cause of much bitterness among the BJP cadre. But his colleague and former Defence Minister George Fernandes was quick to retort that he was very much present in the meeting of senior Ministers where the decision to send Jaswant singh was taken unanimou- sly. It speaks a lot about Mr Advani's compulsions of twisting incidents and passing the buck on Khandhar to his party colleagues in keeping with his image building exercise.

More than that, the veteran BJP leader's irrespon- sible remark that Jaswant Singh might have consulted Vajpayee Ji leaves no room for the fact as to who is playing tricks with whom in a tussle for one upmanship. This direct attack on the former PM has left many of his admirers more than annoyed. That the senior leader has not reacted to the comment proves yet again that Mr Vajpayee is indeed a truebred statesman and Mr Advani is no match.

That there is many a slip between his written and spoken words was clear from yet another controversial statement which the BJP leader gave to Shekhar Gupta of the Walk and Talk fame. After blithely starting in his book that Mr Vajpayee want- ed Mr Modi to resign after Gujarat carnage while he was opposed to it, he has now retracted his position and said that he had indeed asked Mr Modi to resign but since it led to a hullabaloo in the Goa National Executive, he desisted from it. In yet another of his media exploitation trips, Mr Advani did the unforgivable by naming Mr Modi as his successor. While it totally militates against the Sangh Parivar ideology of collective leadership, the BJP may also find itself in the thick of embarrassing questions regarding targeting the Congress for its dynastic traditions. Moreover, the move has the potential of irking the next generation leaders of BJP no end.

As things stand, controversies surrounding the BJP leader's autobiograp- hical work just refuse to die down. It has now run into more trouble with CPI leadrer Satpal Dang taking umbrage over his portrayal as a dead person. Also the party's long standing political ally, the Shormani Akali Dal has also taken strong exception to his attempts of distorting facts about Punjab. Mr Advani seems to have committed a historical faux pas also by claiming in his book that Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged for hurling a bomb in the Delhi Assembly in 1929 while it is common knowledge that they were executed in the Lahore Conspiracy case.

Having said that, it has now become apparent that the senior BJP patriarch is afflicted with the foot in mouth syndrome. His other statem- ent that he was about to retire into anonymity finds strange resonance with Mr Vajpay- ee's tire retire policy. But while the former PM could get away with such statem- ents, they sound odd when emanating from a leader who has nursed Prime Ministerial ambitions all along. What is more, it seems that Mr Advani has not learnt his lesson from past experiences. Earlier also, he had got entangled in a web of his own making when he tried for an image changeover by heaping praises on Pak founder Jinnah. While he was made to step down for that mistake, one hoped that he would not resort to such gimmickry again.

But what is more worrisome for the BJP is the fact that Mr Advani's revalat- ions have ripped open old faultlines in the Saffron brigade. It has unwittingly laid bare the factionalism and infighting riling the first nationalistic party of India. The book emphasises that there is no cohesion among the leaders who talk in different voices over critical issues pertaining to the nation. In other words, the book shows that the principal players are more than ready to sacrifice collective responsibility at the alter of their individual agen- das. This is hardly the image of a party claiming to be a serious contender of power at the Centre.

Sunita Vakil