This is not the first time that Advani’s outspokenness has sent a chill down the spine of Pakistan. When he visited Israel in 1999 and paved the way for a joint venture between the intelligence agencies of India and Mossad of Israel, the tremors could be seen in Pakistan. Israel which is renowned for the efficiency of its intelligence gathering promised to help India by supplying advanced espionage equipment and providing training to an Indian team in the use of computers and the Internet for espionage and disinformation, code breaking and purloining state secrets of hostile countries. Pakistan had termed the pact as dangerous for the Muslim world including itself. as Israel would have access to all the information of the Muslim countries where Indian embassies existed. Besides, Advani made Israel a strategic partner of India as a supplier of small arms and other technical equipment related to the defence of the nation. His sagacity was evident when he made Israel an important ally of India so that its strong Jewish lobby in the U. S. A. could be used to further the interests of India. In 2000, Advani became the first Indian Home Minister to visit France where he met his French counterpart, Jean Pierre Chevenement, and shared concern over international terrorism. He persuaded France to state that it understood India’s specific concerns over cross-border terrorism.

Advani vehemently criticised General Musharraf’s comment that there could be a repeat of Kargil and his criticism fell on the right ears as he was visiting the U. S. A. and Britain at that time. Advani was never as devoted to the peace initiative with Pakistan as is Vajpayee. Both of them have played their parts appropriately, practically complementing each other; the Prime Minister offering the hand of friendship with his deputy constantly recalling the nefarious designs of Pakistan. In tandem, both these seasoned politicians have shown the world the conflicting motivations of Pakistan (war) and India (peace).

According to a report in The Balochistan Post, Advani has set up the Indian Home Ministry’s Central Intelligence Processing Unit (CIPU) in New Delhi with the help of U. S. and Israeli intelligence agencies to combat cross-border terrorism.

It was Advani who proclaimed Vajpayee as the prime ministerial candidate though he himself was the numero uno of the party at the time when the BJP first came to power. There has been bickering from time to time between the Advani and the Vajpayee camps but the two leaders have displayed their statesmanship by keeping the party above their personal entities. Whenever it mattered, they have always presented an united image.

Though firm and determined by nature, Advani has kept up a self-effacing attitude where the matter of the prime ministership is concerned. During the recent controversy sparked off by Party President Venkaiah Naidu’s remark, Advani just stepped back and declared that Vajpayee would be the next Prime Minister. Both Govindacharya and Kalyan Singh have doomed their political careers by hurting the ego of the Prime Minister and it seems that Venkaiah Naidu too has unwittingly gone on the same course. The Chintan Baithak in Thane concentrated more on the sensitive leadership issue as Vajpayee was eager to correct the "erroneous" view of Naidu that Advani would lead the party to victory in the upcoming elections. Though some leaders like Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Murli Manohar Joshi do not subscribe to Naidu’s view, they do not dare confront him openly as he is known to be a close aide of Advani. Vajpayee may not like to hear it being said so, but it is an indisputable fact that Advani would play the most vital role in the forthcoming elections. The BJP has planned to use all its contentious cards like the Ayodhya issue, the anti-conversion bill and the nation-wide ban on cow slaughter. And no one else is more famous for his unapologetic stand on these issues than Advani.

At the time of the partition of India, Advani was the RSS organiser in Karachi. He co-ordinated RSS work in Rajasthan for several years. In 1951, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherji founded the Jana Sangh and Advani became its Rajasthan state secretary, a responsibility he carried till 1957. Then he shifted to Delhi and became the party’s Delhi state secretary during which he was also the secretary of the Jana Sangh Parliamentary Group. His stint as the prabandhak of the RSS and the secretary of the Jana Sangh brought him close to the grassroot workers of the parivar due to which he is believed to wield more influence among them than Vajpayee. Many believe that Advani is the real force and spirit behind the BJP and that Vajpayee is only a mask (mukhouta). It was the revealing of this open secret that cost Govindacharya the post of BJP general secretary. But things are not the same now as before. During the recent leadership controversy, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav had stated: "Both are swayamsewaks. Both are equal and are close to us."