L K Advani, one of the founders of
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) , was the Prime Ministerial candidate for BJP in the 2009 general elections.
Today, though neglected by many and shadowed by the party favorite, Narendra
Modi, he is still razor sharp and commands respect in the political world. If
experience and undying enthusiasm are taken into account, Advani beats everyone
by a huge margin. So, why not vote him in as the Prime Minister? One wonders,
yet one must not jump to conclusions.
Let us step back a bit and take a
look at his journey so far. Lal Krishna Advani was born in Karachi (1927) to a Hindu
family in British India. He was elected as the secretary of the RSS (Karachi)
in 1947. Later he joined Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was founded by Shyama
Prasad Mukherjee in 1951 .He served as a member of the Rajya sabha for six
years from 1970-75. After holding various positions in Jana Sangh, he was
elected as its president in 1973 at the Kanpur session .During the Emergency, he
along with his colleague Atal Bihari Vajpayee joined Janta party after
dissolution of the Jana Sangh in 1977 to fight the Lok Sabha elections .The
erstwhile members of Jana Sangh quit the Janta party and formed Bharatiya Janta
party ,Atal Bihari Vajpayee was appointed the president of the new party. Atal
ji initially took a moderate approach towards Hindutva, but after the poor
performance of party in 1984 elections Advani was appointed as the party president
and BJP turned to hardline Hindutva. Advani was and still is considered as a
hardline Hindutva leader. Under Advani, BJP became the political face of Ram
Janmabhoomi Andolan which was started by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Advani
started a Rath Yatra to mobilize the karsewaks
to offer prayers at the Babri masjid as it was considered that it was made on
the remains of a Ram temple. L K Advani was one of the leaders of BJP who
delivered speech on 6th of December, the day Babri masjid was abolished
.These events established him as the face of Hindutva. When NDA formed the government
in 1999 elections, L K Advani was made the Home Minister .Later, he sat as the Leader of Opposition from 2004 to 2009.He was made the Prime Ministerial candidate of NDA for 2009 general elections .NDA lost the elections
and Advani gave way to Sushma Swaraj as the Leader of Opposition. 2013 was the
year of Modi for BJP. With his arrival as a prime contender for the party’s nomination,
a majority of the Party members swung in his favor. Soon enough, Narendra Modi
was named the Party’s choice and L K Advani resigned (He later withdrew his
resignation). One might have thought that this would be an end to its career
with him taking a backstage. But this isn’t to be as the latest reports suggest
that he is still as fresh as ever leading the charge in Gandhinagar for BJP.
He has a political career spanning
over six decades. All his years in the political mainstream (and recently the
sidelines) are a proof of his mettle in the field. While many politicians have
fallen and disbanded their beliefs, Advani has remained true to his core views
and principles. It is on his rock-solid stance that Hindutva still remains a
strong driving force for his followers. Placing him as the Prime Minister of
India, will certainly see a review of a lot of critical issues – especially Article
370 of the Constitution of India, which till date remains a bone of contention
between BJP leaders and the Congress. LK Advani and the BJP have constantly
argued for the Kashmiri Hindus who suffered due to the measures enforced. With
LK Advani as the Prime Minister, we will get an experienced leader as mentioned
earlier. He was present when India achieved its independence, he was also there
during the emergency and he is still active .Who better than him for the job?
In times of corruption, crony capitalism, widespread dissatisfaction, it is not
a young leader who can turn a magic wand, but a seasoned leader like L K Advani
who can drive the country on the path of development. He can be more instrumental
in improving foreign relations, as he had dealt with them before.
Thus, after knowing his past and
possible future with him as the Prime Minister , we can say that L K Advani too
was a suitable candidate for the top job. However, party policies and politics
spelled otherwise and so we can only imagine what India would have been like
under the leadership of L K Advani (had he won the coming elections, of
course!)
-Kumar Gaurav
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Note : The views expressed here are not meant to hurt the sentiments of any community, group or faction. If they do, please refrain from commenting obscenities below. Thank You!
In Public Interest : Those who had trouble handling the facts :
1. Jana Sangh - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatiya_Jana_Sangh
2. Vishwa Hindu Parishad - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishwa_Hindu_Parishad
3. NDA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Democratic_Alliance_(India)
4. Article 370, Constitution of India - http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html
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