HVK Archives: Saffron rath to rekindle swadeshi
Saffron rath to rekindle swadeshi - The Telegraph
Posted By Ashok V Chowgule (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
8 May 1997
Title : Saffron rath to rekindle swadeshi
Author :
Publication : The Telegraph
Date : May 8, 1997
In a pre-election build-up, the BJP president, Mr L. K. Advani, will launch a
55-day-long Swaran Jayanti rath yatra from Mumbai's Kranti Maidan on May 18 to
"rekindle the patriotic spirit in people and .project an inspiring vision of
national reconstruction" to coincide with the 50th anniversary of India's
Independence.
The march will traverse 15,000 km, and has been billed as the "biggest political
yatra in India's history". It is the culmination of four other yatras the BJP
undertook since its electoral graph began spiralling - the Ram Rath yatra, the
Ekta yatra, the Janadesh yatra and the Surajya yatra.
Announcing Mr Advani's agenda, the BJP general secretary, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu,
said: "The time has come to assess what was the expectation of the people who laid
down lives for India's freedom and what is the present situation. This is the
yatra's message."
The underlying claim would be to reinforce the BJP's position as the "nation's
first alternative" when juxtaposed with the "corrupt and inefficient Congress
regime" and the "unholy alliance of the United Front joining hands with the
corrupt Congress".
Although the BJP's parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),
still maintains the Congress-led freedom struggle did not yield the blueprint for
a Hindu rashtra, and did not signify India's Independence as such, the BJP has
been slowly shedding its ideology. It has been usurping symbols and icons of the
Independence movement, including Mahatma Gandhi, to enhance its own nationalist
appeal.
"The yatra will focus on the sacrifices made by the great sons of this country and
the need for a determined fight against corruption and the decay in the system,"
Mr Naidu said. He said it would also stress the need for "social harmony" in the
context of the caste-fractured politics of the Hindi heartland, and the swadeshi
school of economics.
The highpoints of the yatra are a visit to the Cellular jail in the Andamans, and
Jalandhar to pay homage to Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev,
respectively. It will also take in Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's home town in
Gujarat's Kheda district, Mahatma Gandhi's home of Porbandar, to Jammu to
commemorate the death anniversary of the Jan Sangh founder, Shyama Prasad
Mookerji, and Calcutta, also to observe Mr Mookerji's death anniversary.
The yatra will end in New Delhi on July 10. Before the yatra begins, Mr Advani
will participate in a Mahanadu conclave of the Telugu Desam (NTR) in Hyderabad.
The BJP has clinched an alliance with Ms Lakshmi Parvathi to find a much-needed
ally.
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