Some Quotes and Anecdotes of L K Advani :
"India is a Hindu country just like Britain is a Christian country nothing more nothing less," - Advani in a media interview in 1990
## "I started learning Hindi only after the age of 20," said LK Advani in 2012.
"Today India is a free country...India is also a Nuclear power. In the coming years India will emerge as a Global power and I have no doubt about it".
$$ "But despite all these .... if today anyone asks me, what's the biggest and special achievement of India after the end of Colonial rule and since India's independence we have achieved; I will say India has emerged as a great and a successful democracy".
$$ --- When India attained Independence, many western scholars doubted whether we can really survive as a democracy....many western countries said a country wherein crores of people cannot write their own name; the people who use Thumb Impression, how could such a country become a democracy; today we have proved all those of prophets of doom wrong. We can say for 60 years we have kept India a strong democracy.
$$ In 1989-90, a Canadian TV team had interviewed me in our Ashok Road office, they asked me in many countries those who embraced democracy around the time India attained freedom, somehow democracy had to be compromised, some where military rule came in.....only India is a successful democracy; what could be the reason
-- my response was -- when I think of this issue only reason that strikes me is is that a strictly opposite political view to one's party will also be respected.
"Lok tantra ki safal ta ke liye sab sey bara koi guun chahiye .....toh....".
In interview to Karan Thapar, Advani was asked, -- his party BJP and he himself were largely responsible for communally surcharged atmosphere in India:
(1990 - Rath Yatra time) Advani responded:
"I have been hearing this charge these days...but I think this is a result of very intense campaign of disinformation. But unfortunately this is this sustained tirade against the Rath Yatra that I undertook that created a feeling of scare and panic among the Muslims.....".
The report lay pending for a decade. But on August 7, 1990, V P Singh announced that he would implement Mandal Commission recommendation of 27 per cent reservation for backward communities.
Obviously, the reaction shook Indian politics. The reaction was violent and many young people from upper castes in Delhi and other northern Indian towns immolated themselves. The BJP had to undertake a major operation to keep itself politically relevant and deal with the extreme socio-political upheaval. Upper caste boys got enraged over Mandal – that had become synonymous with caste politics – and they immolated themselves in public.
Apparently, V P Singh himself knew the fallout of Mandal Commission recommendations. He was reluctant. But as the Prime Minister Singh got intelligence inputs that his Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal would in days – perhaps second week of August – would make the demand for implementation of the Mandal Commission.
Thus Late V P Singh threw up his ultimate card and that changed Indian politics especially in the cow belt for generations.
On another plane, the Shiv Sena – whose the then chief Bal Thackeray had said he is proud of his Sainiks if they have brought down Babri Masjid; is today a ‘partner’ of a secular alliance along with NCP and Congress.
Ironically, Sena chief Uddhav, son of illustrious Bal Thackeray, also headed a coalition regime that also pledged to uphold ‘secular values’.
NCP stalwart Sharad Pawar was part of the P V Narasimha Rao government which was in power in 1992 when Babri Masjid was brought down.
Making further progress in this piece, it is imperative to note what Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said: “There was no plan to demolish the Babri structure. Yes, everyone felt a temple should be built. Kaise banega, is par behas thi (There were arguments and differences about how this would be achieved).”
A lot has been written about the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and BJP patriarch L K Advani’s Rath Yatra. But it is important to note that besides Advani, there were other protagonists too. On page 942 in its voluminous report, the Justice M S Liberhan Commission that probed for 17 long years on Babri Masjid demolition said, --
"It cannot be assumed even for a moment that L K Advani, A B Vajpayee or M M Joshi did not know the designs of Sangh Parivar..... These people, who may be called pseudo-moderates, could not have defied the mandate of the Sangh Parivar, and more specifically the diktat of the RSS, without having bowed out of public life as leaders of BJP."
One argument being built up now is L K Advani has been awarded Bharat Ratna owing to BJP cadres' overwhelming pressure. And there are reasons to believe this theory. It is a tribute to the rank and file of the BJP that the Modi government has to respond positively.
"What ever flaws you might say .... you might say this is dictatorial...that is dictatorial. But internally, the BJP and the RSS have a degree of Democracy that runs within," aptly remarks Shekhar Gupta, senior Editor of 'Print'.
"When they face a push back from their cadres and followers, they respond to that".
Gupta also says: "Advani has been the most open minded leader (amongst all he had interacted with) to criticism. I personally might have said and written very critical things about him, but he will never cut you off".
Advani's line used to be, says Shekhar Gupta, "A critic is not an enemy".
"In fact, once he said, the difference between us and Sonia Gandhi's party is ...when he see another party, we see them as a rival, we see them in a competitive way...... whereas Congress party sees us as Enemy". - Shekhar Gupta
"Even the finest political minds do not get their instinct right all the time. This is particularly so when it comes to choosing a time to call it a day. Advani missed his moment to bow out honourably when the 2009 election results came.
He offered to quit but then allowed those around him,the same cynical coterie that he should hold responsible for so brutally damaging his image and political legacy, to ‘persuade’ him to hang on. Hang on to,and for,what,they didn’t tell him and, it seems, he did not bother to ask.
The bid for prime ministership over forever, it was entirely up to him to earn a well-deserved farewell in dignity. His CV for a half-century in political life would have still been formidable." - Shekhar Gupta wrote on Aug 30, 2009
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