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Humble Advani emerges tallest - The Observer

K V Lakshmana ()
12 April 1997

Title : Humble Advani emerges tallest
Author : K V Lakshmana
Publication : The Observer
Date : April 12, 1997

The start of Ram Navami festivities this year heralded a new dawn for
septugenarian Lal Krishna Advani as he emerged unscathed in an arena
where much racking and political blackmail have become the order of the
day.

Varsh pratipada, on Tuesday, was admittedly the best moment in his life,
coming after a nerve wracking and traumatic 15 months that forced Advani
to retreat into a shell. Though the fighter in him lived on with the
confidence of a man who was innocent, there were occasions when Advani
felt uncomfortable and pained over harrowing questions from press corps.

Hours after the Delhi High Court cleansed Advani from the Hawala
holocaust, an elated BJP president presented himself be fore the
national and international press.

He related the longest - 1520 minutes he spent in his life on January
16, 1996 when a friend informed him of CBI intentions to club him with
Congress and Janata Dal leaders to implicate him in the payoff case.
Decision to quit Parliament and active electoral politics till his
innocence was proved was easy, as he explains: "It was the only and
right decision in the overall interests of the party".

A laudable thought given these days of denial of justice through
inordinate delays. This self-righteous decision left the field wide
open for Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Eventually Advani emerged taller amidst the current crop of politicians
at a time when politicians creditably is at an all time low. Advani
become the symbol of his party's crusade against corruption in high
places. And thus relieved the strain on the BJP by removing the stigma
attached to its leader.

For a man of fine sensibilities, pleasant manner, and a sagacious human
being it was Advani's own confidence and the confidence reposed in him
by his party rank and rile that enabled him overcome the most traumatic
phase in his life.

It was Advani who was responsible for bringing the BJP on the threshold
of power at the Centre after taking over reins of the party from
Vajpayee when its strength in Lok Sabha was reduced to an insignificant
two.

In his second stint as party chief it was doubly difficult for Advani to
break out of the shadows of the oratory of Vajpayee, despite his
sustained hardwork to transform into an aggressive speech maker from a
timid and diffident public speaker. Yet, inside Parliament, Advani has
come to be known for his incisive interventions.

The sober, soft-spoken Advani was to metamorphose later into an
aggressive Hindutva hardliner, all through his 1990 rath yatra that
brought BJP to where it is today. From a mere two in 1984 to 163 Lok
Sabha seats in 1996 is no mean achievement for a person and party, whom
the rest treat as a political pariah for the strong advocacy of the
cause of the majority community.

Also in the process, Advani endeared himself to the rank and file of the
party and Sangh Parivar cadres, from where he grew ever since his RSS
pracharak days. Born in Karachi in 1927, Advani was drawn to RSS by
default rather than design. The accident spun to a love affair at first
sight. Traumatic partition days may have had their own contribution in
shaping his ideological thinking.

By the 1960s Advani graduated to Jan Sangh during which time he was a
prolific writer for RSS mouthpiece Organiser. Interestingly, Advani got
his first allotment of a government quarter as an accredited
correspondent for this magazine. So it was only natural that when he
entered government after the emergency days under Morarji Desai he
became a Union Minister responsible for Information and Broadcasting.

His parliamentary political career began after he was elected to the
Rajya Sabha in 1970, a seat he occupied for 19 years at a stretch. It
was in 1989 that Advani chose to enter Lok Sabha from Gandhinagar in
Gujarat. In the following elections he represented New Delhi
constituency and in the last general elections he won from Gandhinagar
and New Delhi.

He later vacated New Delhi in favour of Gandhinagar. Advani chose to
resign in January last year as soon as he was chargesheeted in the
multi-crore hawala pay off scandal with a vow to quit electoral politics
until and unless his innocence was proved.


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