A four-day crisis in India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended Friday evening with its once powerful president L.K. Advani taking back his resignation under party pressure but not before bringing into focus the very basis of the subcontinent's partition.

The ideological storm in the largely Hindu nationalist ranks of his party also left the 77-year-old Advani much weaker politically but strengthened the hands of the hawks and hardliners who don't subscribe to the "two-nation theory" - partition of undivided India in 1947 into a Hindu-majority India and Pakistan - on religious lines.

Advani, who found few friends in the BJP in the three days since his return from Pakistan and subsequent resignation Tuesday, decided to give in to pressure from his colleagues and stay on as president, even as the BJP clarified it could not agree with his controversial remarks.

While the party ascribed the entire episode to a "misunderstanding", the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which led a tirade against Advani on his comments, termed the resignation a "stunt".

Although the BJP took pains to describe Advani's Pakistan visit as a success, the party reiterated that it could never accept Jinnah as a secular leader but only as "someone who is responsible for the division of the country on religious lines".

"The crisis, which has been troubling the party for the last three days is over," announced party general secretary Sushma Swaraj after a meeting of the BJP parliamentary board at which Advani was present.

In a redrafted resolution - Advani had expressed unhappiness over Wednesday's draft that excluded a reference to his Pakistan visit - the BJP complemented its chief for "successful visit" to Pakistan.

"The party has welcomed Advani's path breaking visit to Pakistan, which has strengthened the peace process initiated by the (previous BJP-led) NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government," party vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.

"The party is happy to note that he had taken up the issue of terrorism with Pakistan and he impressed upon President (Pervez) Musharraf to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in that country.

"We appreciate the Pakistan government's invitation to Advani and the initiative towards the restoration of the Katas Raj temple," Naidu said referring to the invitation to Advani to inaugurate the renovation work on the temple, considered the second most sacred Hindu shrine of undivided Punjab.

But Naidu said the BJP continued to believe that Jinnah was responsible for the two-nation theory.

"Whatever may have been Jinnah's vision of Pakistan, it remains a theocratic and non-secular state," he noted. "The BJP reiterates its opposition to the two-nation theory which Jinnah believed. Whatever he may have said, Jinnah led a communal movement to form Pakistan," Naidu added.

Earlier Friday, there were a number of dramatic developments as BJP leaders prepared a new resolution balancing the views of Advani and the hardliners over his controversial remarks.

Party general secretary Pramod Mahajan took the resolution to Murli Manohar Joshi, who has publicly opposed Advani's views on Jinnah, in order to avoid "any uncomfortable moments" in the parliamentary board meeting.

Although some VHP leaders had expressed their disapproval of the "derogatory" remarks by VHP leader Praveen Togaida, the radicals did not welcome Advani's return to the party.

"Advani used the wrong words for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and termed Jinnah secular to gain mileage through an image makeover," VHP leader Giriraj Kishore said.

"He failed and thus has withdrawn his resignation, which was just a stunt," he maintained.

Togadia also termed the episode a drama.

The ruling Congress party did not mince words in condemning the happenings in the BJP camp.

"It is yet another chapter of an unending opera, but it is time consuming and costly for the nation. The threat perception or fear that his resignation would be accepted loomed large over Advani," Congress spokesman Abhishek Sanghvi said.

"He is now a lame duck leader of the opposition," he added.

Political observers feel that Advani would now be a weaker leader in his own party.

"Advani has been holding on to an image of a principled man having the courage of his strong convictions. So a climbdown is disastrous," a BJP leader known for his proximity to Advani told IANS.