An ardent Hindu nationalist, Advani, 77, leaves politics dissatisfied, his longheld ambition to build a Hindu temple on the site of a 16th-century mosque in northern India, unfulfilled, analysts said.
"It is a tragic end to one of the most powerful political leaders of recent times," said Kumar Ketkar, veteran political columnist and editor of daily newspaper Loksatta (People's Power).
"Advani's political career is finished after he steps down as the president of the BJP and only he is responsible for that." Analysts say Advani was attempting to project the BJP as a secular party and win the support of India's vast Muslim population. "What Advani failed to realise was that Indian Muslims do not hold Jinnah in high esteem, while the country's majority Hindus anyway dislike him, holding him responsible for the nation's partition in 1947," Ketkar told AFP.