A mastershow or political suicide?

Advani's decision to resign has all the signs of the stroke of a political master. Ostensibly, he put in his papers as the BJP party president to protest the pressure on him to withdraw his remarks calling Jinnah a 'great, secular leader'. The Sangh Parivar greeted Advani with black banners, denouncing his statement. The VHP, keeping in character, called him a traitor to the Hindu cause.Advani came back to India on Monday and said let's debate this whole issue.
The Parivar was in no mood to debate anything, which is understandable since Advani's praise for Jinnah jeopardises one of the main populist planks of the RSS. The pressure from the Parivar was on him: Advani was asked on Monday night by the RSS chief to "withdraw" his Jinnah statement.
Curiously, Advani's resignation letter was written before he left Karachi, making it clear that he was anticipating a strong reaction to his statement. Now, there are two ways of looking at the statement itself. Either Advani, in the emotion of the moment, sort of shot his mouth off about Jinnah and then decided to stick to his statement. This is highly unlikely, given his track record. Or, he had this planned throughout, to provoke the reaction that he did. Either way, he has come out on top.
The BJP, after its defeat in the 2004 general election, has been floundering in its search for a cause. The Sangh Parivar, particularly the RSS, has been very critical of this, making sure that it pointed out the fact that the BJP had given up the cause of the temple at Ayodhya. The RSS very recently again made its displeasure public by saying that both Vajpayee and Advani needed to make way for 'younger leaders'.
Evidently unhappy with the way things are with the RSS, Advani's move will give him reward. Within minutes of the news of the BJP president resigning, the entire top brass of the party was at his house. They will have assembled there with just one purpose: to ask him to take back his resignation.
Whether he does take it back or not remains to be seen, but Advani has sent out a clear statement of strength, both to the RSS and to within his party. He has let the RSS and the Parivar know that he will not be pushed around and be replaced because they think so. To the BJP, he is sending out a clear signal: I am in charge, not the RSS or any of the tantrum-throwing younger leaders.
If Advani stays back (which is what most people will be putting their money on), his position is consolidated vis-a-vis all constituents and also made a big step towards shedding some of his "hardliner" image. If he doesn't take back his resignation, then he leaves with a huge moral cache that very, very few politicans in the country can lay claim to.