Old school
Bharat Ratna L.K. Advani is a patriarch of the BJP who managed to bring in a degree of moderation in the party from the extreme position he himself had led in the first place in the 1990s.
The mellowing of Hindutva under Mr. Advani was received well by a nation that had entered an era of economic growth. In time as party hardliners sought to reclaim its original forte of Hindutva, the strident denigration of opponents and self-promotion saw Mr. Advani being openly uncomfortable with the aligning of his style with the dominant mode. In his much quoted blog, he had said, “those who disagree with us are not our enemies”.
