Ahmedabad, June 20: One called him a “national shame”, others vowed to make him bite the dust.

Sadhus, and those in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who had once hailed L.K. Advani, today continued their tirade against him for praising Mohammed Ali Jinnah and describing December 6, 1992 ? when the Babri Masjid was demolished ? as the saddest day of his life.

The occasion was a meeting of members of the extended Sangh parivar ? sadhus affiliated to the VHP, some of them part of its top decision-making body, the margdarshak mandal.

Their advice to Advani was: take sanyas, give up his Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat and even resign as primary member of the party he heads.

The torrent of abuse began soon after the sadhus got up to address the jam-packed town hall this evening. The fiery Acharya Dharmendra, a member of the margdarshak mandal, called Advani a man “without principle” who has become a “national shame”.

If Advani quits politics, which he will be forced to as he has no choice, the BJP will be “purified”, said a sadhu. At least, he added, it would clear the way for a “sensible” leader like Narendra Modi, who is wedded to the Hindutva ideology, to lead the party and give new direction to the nation.

What if Advani wants to be pardoned?

The answer came like a shot: he should prostrate before the sadhus and saints who would give him diksha and make him a “genuine” Hindu once again.

The VHP has already banned Advani’s entry into Gujarat. The organisation has asked its workers to fan out in Gandhinagar from tomorrow and circulate pamphlets and paint the walls with anti-Advani slogans.

Mahant Avichaldas, who on Saturday launched the Matvistar Sangh to mobilise public opinion against Advani, justified the involvement of sadhus in the campaign, saying the BJP leader got elected on the Hindutva plank. Now “we have every right to recall him”, said a sadhu.

Urging VHP activists to get ready for a long-drawn battle, the sadhus thundered that even if Advani contests from another constituency in any part of the country, they would “make him bite the dust”.

Advani, the sadhus said, should retire from active politics. Or else, he could be humiliated.

If Avichaldas is to be believed, many top state BJP leaders and MLAs are in touch with him. “They have been privately telling me that what we are doing is right and they agree with me,” the mahant, who attended the just-concluded Hardwar convention of the margdarshak mandal, said.

“But they cannot support us publicly. If Advani goes, there will be room for leaders like Modi who, they claimed, is far capable than the present party chief,” the mahant added.