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YATRA.
A procession. A journey. A pilgrimage.
A word that symbolises
an ancient Indian tradition that has evolved over the millennia.
A tradition that is at once universal as well as deeply rooted in
that which is exclusively Bharatiya.
A tradition that bridges the gap between the ancient and the
modern, the past and the present.
A tradition that is both inclusivist and participatory.
A tradition held sacred for precisely these reasons.
In 1990, WHEN the nation faced one of the most severe crises in
recent times with casteist forces threatening to tear asunder our
social fabric on one hand and competitive communalism of the
pseudo-secularists leading to the creation of fresh fissures on the
other. Shri L. K. Advani stepped forward to lead the
counter-offensive. He used the unique symbol of Sri Ram, the
unequalled symbol of our oneness, or our integration, to unleash
both our suppressed nationalist fervour as well as our aspiration
to live the higher values.
For the first time an ancient tradition became the vehicle to
mobilise public opinion. Shri Advani embarked upon his now famous
Ram Rath Yatra -- while others were busy manipulating the levers of
power in Delhi by taking recourse to religion and caste, the
Bharatiya Janata Party took its message to the people who are the
final arbiters in a democracy. At one level, the yatra was a
political 'procession', at another level it was a journey in search
of the heart of India, a journey that was to span the land lying
between shining shores and rising to the heights of the majestic
Himalayas. At a third level, it was a pilgrimage whose end goal
was a rashtra mandir built not of bricks and mortar but patriotic
fervour and nationalist zeal.
And thus was forged a powerful weapon to mould public opinion, to
awaken latent nationalism, to rekindle faith in the cultural unity
of this vast land of ours.
As the nation marks the golden jubilee of its independence from
foreign rule, Shri Advani has decided to embark upon another yatra.
This will be a celebratory procession that will traverse the
entire length and breadth of the nation. But this will also be a
journey with a noble purpose -- to rekindle the dimming flame of
patriotism, to reweave the shattered dreams that Indians dreamt on
August 15, 1947. More importantly, it will be a pilgrimage to pay
homage to those who have laid down their lives at the altar of
nationalism.
This is the fifth yatra undertaken by the BJP during the last eight
years. As the Swarna Jayanti Rath begins to roll across the
country, it would be appropriate to recall the last four yatras and
the message that each one of them conveyed to the people.
Ram Rath Yatra
The BJP's first yatra, contrary to what the pseudo-secularists
claim, was not merely a part of the Mandir-Masjid dispute centred
around Ram Janmabhumi at Ayodhya. Although linked to the
liberation of Ram Janmabhumi, its aim was to raise three
fundamental questions that had all along lurked in the collective
sub-conscience of the nation but nobody had dared ask them, fearful
of retribution from the pseudo-secularists who had ruled India by
default since 1947. These questions were:
What is secularism? What is communalism?
Can national integration be achieved by constantly pandering to
minority communalism?
Cannot Government reject the cult of minorityism?
The Ram Rath Yatra began from Somnath on September 25, 1990, Pandit
Deendayal Upadhyaya's birth anniversary, and was supposed to
culminate at Ayodhya on October 30, after traversing 10,000 km.
Why Somnath? And, why Ayodhya?
It was at Somnath that the assault on Hindu temples and shrines,
the living symbols of an ancient nation, by Islamic invaders began
~- in 1026 the Somnath shrine was ransacked and its riches
plundered by Mahmud Ghaznavi. The temple was rebuilt, only to be
put to sword again, and again, and yet again. But not all the
armies of the invaders could kill the spirit of Somnath. In 1950,
the destroyed temple was rebuilt at the initiative of Sardar Patel
as a symbol of resurgent Indian nationhood.
Shri Advani chose Somnath as the starting point of his yatra
because the reconstruction of the shrine on the rubble of loot and
plunder was the first chapter in a journey to "preserve the old
symbols of unity, communal amity and cultural oneness". The Yatra
was scheduled to conclude at Ayodhya because the liberation of Ram
Janmabhumi would be the second.
This simple message of oneness, of cultural nationalism, of
questioning the conventional wisdom of appeasement and minorityism,
caught the imagination of the people. The yatra was a tremendous
success -- no other effort at political mobilisation had drawn such
a popular response. The yatra brought into sharp focus the
contrast between "lok shakti", as represented by the masses, and
"raj shakti", as represented by the elitist rulers in Delhi.
The moral and revolutionary dimension of the Ram Rath Yatra made it
comparable to the Salt Satyagraha or "Dandi march" of Gandhi in
1930. The yatra effectively drove home the point that if Ram
represented the ideal of conduct, Ram Rajya represented the ideal
of governance. The sheer magnitude of popular support made it
comparable to Tilak's appropriation of Ganesh Chaturthi to mobilise
public opinion against colonial rule. The cultural dimension of
the yatra made it comparable to the anti-cow slaughter campaign of
Gandhi.
The awesome tidal wave of nationalism unleashed by the yatra
unnerved the pseudo-secularists. 'Jai Shri Ram' became more than a
traditional greeting: it became a roaring endorsement of the BJP's
view that secularism does not mean a rejection of our history and
cultural heritage, the very foundations of this great nation. The
two leading champions of pseudo-secularism, Shri Mulayam Singh
Yadav and Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav, swung into action, using the
only means with which they are comfortable -- repression and
terror. Shri Advani was arrested in the wee hours of the morning
on October 23 in Bihar at Samastipur and held captive at Masanjore.
In Uttar Pradesh, a brutal crackdown was ordered against the
votaries of resurgent nationalism.
Ironically, despite such marshalling of the state's might, "raj
shakti" had to suffer a humilating defeat at the hands of "lok
shakti'. Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who had tried to cynically
exploit caste and religious identities to perpetuate his rule. had
to make an ignominious exit. Today, his party, the Janata Dal, is
a near extinct political species, barely alive with the help of the
Congress. The disputed structure over which Muslims were egged on
to shed blood by their self-appointed 'secular' guardians, does not
exist any more. The man who had the audacity to halt the Ram Rath
and arrest Shri Advani, today stands exposed as a venal politician
driven by pelf and power.
Today, the BJP is the largest political party in the country,
thanks to the journey that began from Somnath during the Navaratri
of 1990. The procession that began with a handful of nationalists
led by an uncompromising nationalist is today a roaring stream of
nationalist fervour. The pilgrimage will be over the day Ram Lalla
finds his rightful place in a temple commemorating the sacred site
of his birth.
Ekta Yatra
Nineteen Ninety-One. The entire State of Jammu & Kashmir was
engulfed by the flames of separatism and fundamentalist terrorism
-fanned, aided and abetted by Pakistan. As many as three lakh
Pandits had fled the terror unleashed upon them in the Valley,
their ancestral land for centuries past, and sought shelters, in
camps, reduced to the, status of refugees in their own country.
Punjab's fields. were soaked with the blood of innocent victims of
separatist terror.
A weak Government at the Centre made the situation worse. There
was neither direction nor purpose in the Government's actions, such
as they were. At the behest of aggressive Pakistani activism at
international fora and as a result of intrusive diplomacy by the
West, India had become a nation under siege. both within and
outside. A big question mark had come to hang over India's unity
and integrity.
Shri Murli Manohar Joshi, who had just taken charge as party
president, decided to embark on a yatra -- the message this time
would be the need to preserve our unity. our ekta, in the face of
such adversity. The 47-day yatra was, thus, appropriately named
Ekta Yatra. It would carry this message from one tip of the
country to the other.
The Ekta Yatra was flagged off from Kanyakumari on December 11,
1991. It was to conclude at Srinagar on January 26, 1992, with the
hoisting of the Tricolour at Lal Chowk which was then witnessing a
see-saw battle for control between the security-forces and
terrorists. Indeed, the Tricolour was being burned in an open act
of defiance of the Indian state and as a rejection of India's
national identity.
Kanyakumari revives memories of Swami Vivekananda, who passionately
espoused the cause of cultural nationalism and restored pride in
being a Hindu. He represented, in many ways, the collective
aspirations of an ancient nation whose identity had been ruthlessly
suppressed by a series of conquerors from foreign shores. December
11 marked the birth anniversary of the nationalist Tamil poet,
Subramanyam Bharati. It also marked the martyrdom of Guru Tegh
Bahadur who had taken it upon himself to protect the Hindus of
Kashmir from being persecuted by the Moghuls and their subedars.
Lakhs of people greeted the yatra along its route. People
volunteered to accompany the yatris on their arduous and dangerous
mission. By the time it reached Delhi, the number of people
wanting to accompany the Ekta Rath to Srinagar had become
unmanageable.
On January 25 a landslide, unfortunately, blocked Banihal Pass and
the yatra was threatened with disruption. But a determined BJP
leadership decided to fly down to Srinagar to hoist the Tricolour
at the predetermined spot on the predetermined day -- Republic Day,
1992. At the behest of the then Congress Government at the Centre,
the State administration tried to create obstacles. "It is not
safe," they argued. "We cannot assure your security," they warned.
"Please do not go," they pleaded.
The purpose was clear - to appease the anti-India sentiments of the
separatists and their cohorts. But the BJP defeated this purpose.
As did the gallant jawans of the Army and the BSF. Shri Joshi and
other senior leaders flew down to Srinagar from Jammu and at the
appointed hour, the noble mission was fulfilled. Had not Shri
Joshi unfurled the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, the National Flag would
not have been hoisted anywhere in the Valley that year. While the
Prime Minister and his Ministers cowered behind the protective
shield of the national capital, the then BJP President showed the
courage to dare the terrorists in their own backyard.
In a sense, the Ekta Yatra marked the turning point in the battle
against terrorism. Soon after, the security forces in Punjab broke
the backbone of separatism while in Kashmir the jawans launched a
vigorous counter-offensive, knowing they were not alone in the
sacred duty of protecting the country's honour and dignity, the
nation's unity and integrity.
Janadesh Yatra
Nineteen Ninety-Three. Backed by the Marxists and other assorted
pseudo-secularists, the Rao Government introduced two draconian
Bills -- the Constitution 80th Amendment Bill and the
Representation of People (Amendment) Bill -- with the dual purpose
of banning religion from public life as well as denying political
space to the BJP. The underpinning of these proposed legislations,
as in the past, was minority appeasement and crass votebank
politics. The BJP stalled the Bills in Parliament and the debate
was deferred, although the Bills were not withdrawn.
The BJP's opposition was articulated by Shri Advani:
"We strongly object to religion being translated as dharma... for
the average Indian, irrespective of whether he is a Hindu, or a
Muslim or a Christian, his respective religion is for him an
inspiration for righteous conduct. By ousting religion from
politics, we will only be weakening the moral base of public
life... politics should be cleansed of adharma, not dharma. It
should be rid of corruption and criminalisation, not of probity and
integrity..."
Through these Bills, the pseudo-secularists sought to achieve four
principal objectives:
Subvert the basic scheme of elections and allow pre-emptive
disqualification;
Provide constitutional legitimacy to banning organisations;
Make the state irreligious rather than one which respects all
religions equally;
Allow the summary deregistration of political parties.
Once again Shri Advani took the lead in mobilising public opinion
against these draconian, anti-democratic, anti-people measures. He
planned a four-pronged yatra, to be led by senior leaders of the
party. Thus was born the Janadesh Yatra with the purpose of
seeking the people's mandate against the two Bills.
The four yatras began on September 11, 1993, the birth anniversary
of Swami Vivekananda, from four corners of the country. Shri
Advani himself led the yatra from Mysore; Shri Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat from Jammu; Shri Murli Manohar Joshi from Porbandar; and,
Shri Kalyan Singh from Calcutta. Travelling through 14 States and
two Union Territories, the yatris congregated at Bhopal on
September 25 in a massive rally. The Janadesh Yatra was a runaway
success.
It was, by all accounts, an unprecedented programme of mass
contact; a programme that took the debate on the 'religion Bills'
from the antiseptic drawing rooms of Delhi to the dusty villages of
Bharat. Once again, while the BJP's detractors schemed and plotted
iii the national Capital, the BJP went to the nation's people!
Shri Advani had a tremendous response in Naxalite Telegana. Huge
crowds greeted Shri Joshi in Ahmedabad. The tumultuous response to
Shri Kalyan Singh in Calcutta prompted The Indian Express to
headline its report: 'Red City Turns Saffron", a report which
acknowledged, 'the city will perhaps never be the same again." In
terrorism-affected Punjab, for the first time in a decade a
political party had come out in such a big way: As crowds greeted
Shri Shekhawat, officials thanked him, saying the yatra had helped
revive the morale of the administration.
The Bills were never passed. Indeed, its proponents, clearly
scared by the public rejection of their dubious move, could not
summon the courage to initiate a debate. The adharmic move of the
pseudo-secularists was one again defeated by the forces of dharma.
The evocative theme of the Janadesh Yatra, "Loktantra Rakshanaye,
Dharmachakra Pravartanaye". proved a winner.
Suraj Yatra
Nineteen Ninety-Six. Faced with imminent defeat in the forthcoming
Lok Sabha election, P.V. Narasimha Rao did what came to him
naturally -- he filed a false chargesheet against Shri L.K. Advani.
The devious, diabolic intention behind the framing of the BJP
President was clear to all -- to hobble the Congress' principal
challenger, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
What Narasimha Rao did not reckon for was Shri Advani's whiplash
reaction -- he resigned his seat in the Lok Sabha and took a public
vow not to enter Parliament till cleared of the patently concocted
charges -- which put him head and shoulder higher than all other
politicians. and the resolute manner in which the entire party
stood by its President, something which is alien to the non-BJP
political culture.
Shri Advani decided to take the battle to the people and let the
final masters of our democracy decide who was right and who was
wrong. Once again, while others plotted and' schemed and
manoeuvred in Delhi, the BJP took the burning issue of the day,
corruption, to the masses. Since 1996 marked 50 years of self-rule
(the interim government headed by Nehru was installed in 1946) as
well as the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the
theme for this yatra, named "Suraj Yatra" was 'From Swaraj to
Suraj'.
Explaining the purpose of the yatra, Shri Advani had then observed:
"Delhi Chalo (the slogan raised by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose)
became an inspiring slogan for all patriots. Delhi Chalo at that
time was a slogan aimed at Swaraj (self-government). Though we
have had swaraj for half-a-century, suraj has been eluding us. Let
the BJP become an instrument to usher in suraj. Through this Suraj
Yatra we will take the BJP's message of Suraksha, Shuchita,
Samarasta and Swadeshi, and its ideology of cultural nationalism
(Hindutva) to the people."
And the message was indeed taken to the people. Starting from
Ernakulum on March 9, Shri Advani traversed across the country,
inspiring the lakhs of people who came out on the streets to greet
him with his stirring exhortation to fight corruption, protect the
country, strengthen social cohesion, adopt swadeshi and be proud of
our cultural heritage. The indefatigable yatri travelled through
the summer heat of the northern plains, spreading his message,
establishing contact with the masses from early morning till late
night. People braved the mid-day sun to hear him. Crowds waited
patiently at night, waiting to welcome Shri Advani, the pilgrim
with a cause, the leader with a vision and the traveller with a
message.
By the time the yatra ended at Lucknow, the objective had been
achieved. It was amply clear that the Congress was set for a
worst-ever, crushing defeat. When the votes were counted, the
results showed that the people had registered their mandate for
change, their endorsement of suraj, proving pseudo-secular
Cassandras wrong. though not for the first or the last time!
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