Elections 2009: Advani defeated Advani

By Naved Hamid

Now as the dust over the euphoria of the outcome of the General elections of 2009 in India has nearly settled down and the UPA government led by the oldest political party of India under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh, who undoubtedly demonstrated his visionary strength, has created history by not only ensuring to get the confidence of the Indian electorates for the second term as PM only after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the history of the democratic India but also by putting cold water on the aspirations of Mr. Lal Krishna Advani, political yatri since last sixty years and the leader of Bharatiya Janata Party.

The day of 16 May 2009 was the day of anti-climax for Mr. Lal Krishna Advani in his political life. It is but natural to aspire for the highest post in the political struggle for a person of Mr. L.K. Advani’s stature but what Mr. Advani has ignored in his political journey is the existence of the pluralistic character of the Indian nation. He became the ‘lauh prush’ or the ‘iron man’ of his political ideology but could not become the pillar of strength for the vast majority of Indians who thoroughly believes in pluralistic character of the nation.

Practically he had ensured the locking of the doors of the PM’s office nearly 18 years back when he started his aggressive anti-Muslim rath yatra to correct the history as per his understanding and vision, which culminated with the demolition of the Babri Mosque of Ayodhya in 1992. Mr. Advani even failed to understand the mindset of the Indian electorates when they rejected his brand of aggressive Hindutva ideology by ensuring the defeat of his party’s candidates in the elections for five state assemblies just after the demolition of one of the oldest mosque of India.

Mr. Advani, along with his colleagues in the Sangh Parivar, had tried to convince Indian masses that the Muslims are of the pampered community in the country. Since mid-nineties, the Muslims of the country were campaigning for the white paper on the socio-economic-educational condition of the community as they had felt the heat of the Sangh’s propaganda of pampering.

Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Mr. L.K. Advani had opposed the announcement of the constitution of Justice Sachar Committee by the UPA government to study the conditions of the Muslim community in India, and the only fear in their mind might be the exposure of the truth. When the study was out, the nation was stunned as Sachar Committee Report placed the factual backwardness of the Muslim community in every field of life before the nation.

For more than three decades, Advani’s brand of politics has made innocent countrymen to ‘believe’ the Sangh’s Goebel propaganda and had created unnecessary hatred, hostility and enmity against the Muslims and confusion in the country. In one stroke the Sachar Committee Report exposed the truth of the pampering propaganda. Enlightened with the factual position, the countrymen took notice of the false propaganda seriously.

After the Sachar Report, when the establishment of the day under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh decided to correct the injustices and announced the launching of the inclusive policies for the empowerment of the backward Muslim community, it was again BJP under Mr. Advani’s leadership that created a ruckus inside and outside the Parliament and strongly opposed the measures without understanding the basic mantra of development for all. Mr. Advani’s colleagues left no stone unturned to convince the innocent countrymen that the launching of the inclusive policies for minorities is nothing but communal budgets and communal awards for the Muslims in the country. The countrymen responded with maturity and ignored the aggressive exclusive agenda of Mr. Advani’s BJP.

Mr. Advani’s another favorite Muslim bashing issue was that of the breeding of Islamic terrorists in the campuses of Islamic Madrasas located along the vulnerable western and northern borders of the country. For more than six years Mr. Lal Krishna Advani was the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in Mr. A. B. Vajpayee regime. Even as Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Advani had given public statements about the dangers of cultivations of Jihadis in Islamic Madrasas but failed to put on record any factual position about their anti national activities on the table of the Parliament. Mr. Advani had loudly and rightly promised that NDA government would bring a white paper on the ‘anti-national’ activities of madrasas before the nation but for three years country waited for that until the NDA regime became a part of the Indian history. After losing power in 2004, breeding of Islamic Jihadism in madrasas became, ironically once again, a favorite topic of Mr. Advani’s political sermons and the countrymen were aghast to hear that again.

For more than six years, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani not only had maintained criminal silence on the role of his party leaders in the massacre of the innocent Muslims in the worst ever communal genocide of Muslims in the recent history of South Asia but also supported the continuation of Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Who can deny that it was Mr. Lal Krishna Advani’s protégé (a sindhi too) Maya Kodnani who was Social Welfare and Higher Education Minister in the Gujarat Government till she was arrested by the Special Investigation Team after the intervention of the honorable Supreme Court of India, for her role in abetting and instigating mobs against the residents of Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya in Ahmedabad and massacre of hapless Muslims in Gujarat disturbances of 2002.

Was Maya Kodnani in the State Cabinet because of the patronage of any other leader other than Mr. Advani? The victims of Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya have boldly and loudly named Maya Kodnani for her notorious role in the violence against them but because of his brand of politics, Mr. Advani had always ignored the crimes of her protégé. How a civilized society can ignore former PM in waiting, Mr. Advani’s silence on the crimes against humanity of his colleagues?

Who can deny that the country has suffered a lot and hundreds of innocents have lost their lives and property because of the foreign abetted terrorism in India? In recent past, the denial of justice to Gujarat victims may also have nurtured a tendency of violence and terrorism amongst the Muslim victims of the state, which cannot be justified in any manner.

The nation, however, was horrified not only with the arrest of Sadhvi Pragyasingh and her colleagues – Major (Retd.) Ramesh Upadhayaya, Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit, Abhinav Bharat Secretary Ajay Rahirkar, Mahant Dayanand Pandey and others – for their role in the bomb blasts in several cities of Muslim concentration including that of Ajmer, Hyderabad and Malegaon to name a few but also with the communalization and politicization of these arrests by Mr. Lal Krishna Advani. He not only raised serious doubts on the integrity against the ATS but also demanded judicial probe into the allegation made by Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur against the officials of Maharashtra ATS. The day Mr. Hemant Karkare of Maharashtra ATS died fighting LeT terrorists in Mumbai, Samna, the mouthpiece of BJP’s alliance partner in state of Maharashtra, wrote editorial against Mr. Hemant Karkare and his colleagues. Mr. Advani had not even once criticized and discouraged those who were attacking the officers of Maharashtra ATS for unearthing the terror network of Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur and her colleagues. The nation had witnessed with horror Mr. Lal Krishna Advani’s double talks on terror. The brave Mumbaikars rejected the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance when they got a chance in the Parliamentary election thus erecting one more barrier to block Mr. Advani’s march to the office of the Prime Minister.

The only purpose to sensationalise Afzal Guru’s issue in elections was nothing but to communalise the general voters against the Muslim community. Mr. Advani forgets that in the assembly elections of 2008, his attempts had not borne any fruits for his party. The voters had once again taken strong exceptions to his approach towards whole issue and decided to use their vote against his faulty approach.

Varun Gandhi’s much-talked about hate speech in Pilibhit in UP further dimmed Advani’s chances to move closer to the office of the Prime Minister. Mr. Advani deliberately defended Varun for nothing but to garner the Hindutva votes, with the argument that the culprit is denying the contents of his speech. What Mr. Advani forgot was the lame excuse of Mr. Varun Gandhi during his clarification before the electronic and print media that he had visited the place because a number of Hindu women had been sexually molested by Muslims and he had tried to restore the confidence amongst the Hindu population of the area. The clarification of Varun was nothing but a canard as in next two days the Indian Express published an investigating story puncturing the whole argument of Varun Gandhi. The women in Pilibhit were molested not by any Muslim youth but by their own community’s lecherous characters. The youths of the nation not only dismissed Varun’s hate speech against Muslims and the Sikhs but also decided to express their displeasure against Mr. Advani’s approach while deciding for the next Government.

For more than six months the goons of Sangh Parivar were active in Kandhamal in Orissa against the hapless Christian tribals, thousands were forced to take refuge in relief camps in their own country, more than 60 innocent children, women and men were brutally killed and homes of around 5000 families were set afire by them allegedly under the patronage of state ministers who were part of the state government. The nation was horrified when BJP under Mr. Advani’s patronage gave tickets to the culprits for the state Assembly and for the Lok Sabha. The voters of Orissa displayed their wisdom by rejecting most of the BJP’s nominees and his party’s share of votes and strength in State Assembly and in Parliament came down subsequently.

One of the major crisis and communal strife the nation had witnessed was that of Amarnath Yatra row in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The nomination of Mr. Leela Karan Sharma, the known face who was leading the agitation, as the BJP’s candidate for Jammu Parliamentary constituency undoubtedly exposed the forces behind the strife in the State. Mr. Advani’s gamble of nominating Mr. Sharma did not work and the Jammu voters of the state rejected his party’s choice.

During his entire election campaign, Mr Advani was romancing with non-issues and inventing new theories. What Mr. Advani forgot was that a Sikh can never be a weak when he taunted Dr. Manmohan Singh as the weak Prime Minister of India. With his attack on Dr. Manmohan Singh, the country’s modest voters made up their mind to respond firmly against Mr. Advani’s diatribe by pushing the button against his party.

Thus hardliner Hindutva mascot Advani defeated the political yatri of last sixty years.