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| Advani, all-time tallest leader | | |
K.V. Seetharamaiah
Born on November 8, 1927 in
Karachi, Pakistan, Lal Krishna Advani has left BJP's footprint across the nation. If Atal Behari Vajpayee is genetic father of BJP for having founded the party in 1980, Advani is foster father of the party. For the first time, BJP started with just 2 seats in Lok Sabha. Vajpayee was forced to form the party since some members in the Janata Party, hostile to RSS, raised the dual membership issue. Janata party started disintegrating. Vajpayee was president of the party for the first two terms followed by Advani for two terms. It is during the regime of Advani as president of the party, the party started growing stronger and stronger.
Advani, seventh Deputy Prime Minister of India, started Rath Yatra to mobilize public opinion for construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. But his Rath Yatra ended in Bihar when chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav got him arrested and check-mated his yatra. If today's crop of politicians in BJP are basking under the glory of present stature of BJP, credit must invariably go to Advani. Yes, Advani is over 91 now. But he is young at 91 with his sharp memory power and sagacity to remain cool and calm despite he having been sidelined since 2014. The unceremonial exit of Advani from political arena is not what he deserves. Fortunately or unfortunately, Vajpayee was in coma for several years before his death. He would also have met with the same fate as Advani.
Advani won Gandhinagar constituency for six terms. Now this constituency has been snatched by Amit Shah. Unsurprisingly, the name of Advani has not appeared in the first list of candidates released by BJP for Lok Sabha election. It does not need a seer to say that once sun rises, sun has to set also.
Advani's political era has gradually come to an end. Like Vajpayee, Advani never hankered after power. The best example to quote is, when Advani's name figured in havala case, he resigned from the Lok Sabha seat and vowed to not contest any more election till his name was cleared. Accordingly he did not contest the next Lok Sabha election. He started contesting the election after he was absolved of the charge that he was involved in havala case. That is why he is called Bheeshmacharya. Advani never vowed to do anything if he felt that he cannot keep up his words. If he vowed to do something, he never backtracked.
When Vajpayee-led NDA rode to seat of power, he offered the Prime Ministerial post to Advani. Advani declined to accept it on the ground that Vajpayee was senior to him. Advani felt it not fair to accept the offer. He requested Vajpayee to take over as Prime Minister. In that situation what Advani did was right.
The Shiv Sena has rightly said Saturday that Advani is the "tallest leader". It is true that Advani played long innings. He has carved a niche for himself in the political map of the country. Uddhav Thackeray has rightly hit back at Congress for saying that the Gandhinagar seat was snatched from Advani. Congress has no moral right to say that the elders in BJP are not respected. The track record of Congress says that P.V. Narasihma Rao, who steered the Congress governments in difficult times, was insulted even after his death. In 2013, Rahul Gandhi who was Vice President of the party tore an ordinance (on protecting convicted lawmakers) right under the nose of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Singh, a puppet at the hands of Sonia and Rahul, had been meekly watching unable to say a single word against the behavior of Rahul.
Recently, BJP general secretary Ram Lal is reported to have called on Advani to elicit a statement from him that he would not contest the election since he is ageing. Advani was mum. Ram Lal is understood to have tried to ascertain from Advani if he is willing to field his son Jayant as he was regularly interacting with Gandhinagar voters. Advani had expressed his view that he was against family succession. Advani is right that he did not issue a statement that Ram Lal desired.
Politics is a bundle of lies, contradictions, conspiracies. Politicians do not do what they say and do not say what they do. Advani is a man of different mould. He stands tall. And forever. |
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