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L. K. Advani

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Lal Krishna Advani
Leader of the Opposition
In office
1 June 2004 – 18 December 2009
Preceded bySonia Gandhi
Succeeded bySushma Swaraj
Deputy Prime Minister of India
In office
29 June 2002 – 20 May 2004
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byChaudhari Devi Lal
Succeeded byVacant
Minister for Home Affairs
In office
19 March 1998 – 20 May 2004
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byIndrajit Gupta
Succeeded byShivraj Patil
Minister for Information and Broadcasting
In office
24 March 1977 – 15 July 1979
Prime MinisterMorarji Desai
Preceded byVidya Charan Shukla
Succeeded byVidya Charan Shukla
Personal details
Born (1927-11-08) November 8, 1927 (age 97)
Karachi, British India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
SpouseKamla Advani
ChildrenPratibha Advani, Jayant Advani
Alma materBombay University
OccupationLawyer
Websitewww.lkadvani.in

Lal Kishenchand Advani (Template:Lang-sd) known as Lal Krishna Advani (Template:Lang-hi) (born 8 November 1927) is a prominent Indian politician and a former president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is currently the major opposition party in the Indian Parliament. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004 and was formerly the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament). Advani, who began his political career as a worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is often credited with having made the BJP a formidable force in Indian politics.[1]

Early life and background

Lal Krishna Advani was born in Karachi, Sindh, British India (modern day Pakistan) to Kishanchand D. Advani and Gyani Devi. He studied in Karachi and initially, he joined the D.G. National College in Hyderabad, Sindh for his education. He later graduated with a degree from the Government Law College, Kanpur University.[1]

Political career

Early career

File:Advani Family.JPG
Lal Krishna Advani with family

L.K.Advani began his career when he joined the RSS in 1942. He later became the president of the organization's Karachi branch[1]. In 1947, Advani was sent to Mewat in Rajasthan, which had witnessed communal violence following partition, to oversee the affairs of the RSS.

Jana Sangh days

India gained independence from the British in 1947. Advani became a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was founded in 1950. The party dissolved during emergency, whereupon Advani and his colleague Atal Bihari Vajpayee joined the Janata Party.

Janata Party

The Janata Party was formed by political leaders and activists of various political parties who had been united in opposing the state of emergency imposed in 1975 by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After elections were called in 1977, the Janata Party was formed from the union of the Congress (O), Swatantra Party, Socialist Party of India, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Lok Dal. Congress defector Jagjivan Ram formed the Congress for Democracy and joined the Janata alliance.[2] The widespread unpopularity of Emergency rule gave Janata Party and its allied a landslide victory in the election. Morarji Desai became the prime minister of India, Advani became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (India) and his close friend and Jan Sangh colleague Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the high profile External Affairs Minister.

In 1980, after the collapse of the Choudhary Charan Singh Government, Advani became a prominent leader of the newly founded BJP and represented the party in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament).[1]

The rise of the BJP

Advani became the president of the BJP in 1986. He gradually brought in a shift in the party's policies by advocating Hindutva and subsequently, the party came to power in several Indian states. The period that followed also witnessed a change in Indian politics with the Congress party (till then the predominant party in Indian politics) and especially its Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi getting embroiled in the Bofors scandal. After the elections in 1989, the Congress lost power and the BJP which did remarkably well in the elections decided to support a coalition headed by V P Singh.

File:Condi rice with advani.jpg
Lal Krishna Advani with Condoleezza Rice

Under Advani, the BJP launched a violent agitation on the issue of rebuilding Ram temple in Ram's supposed birthplace Ayodhya, which was criticized to be a response to limit the damage caused to his party due to V.P. Singh's Mandal Commission politics. For quite a while it had been the demand of Vishwa Hindu Parishad that a temple be built at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, which is widely believed by Hindus to have been built over the ruins of a Rama temple destroyed by Mughal king Babur. The movement gained momentum in 1989, when Advani embarked on a "rath yatra" to mobilize "karsevaks" to converge upon the Babri Masjid to offer prayers. This [Rath Yatra], undertaken in a state of the art airconditioned Mazda van done up to look like a chariot, started from Somnath in Gujarat and had covered a large part of Northern India until it was bought to a halt by the Chief Minister of Bihar, [Laloo Prasad Yadav]. However by then, over 564 muslims were killed in a surge of communal violence that followed the trail of Advani's cavalcade. Radicalised supporters of the Bhartiya Janata Party, egged on by the hate ridden speeches made by Advani, resorted to violence aimed squarely at Muslims.

This movement brought in a huge surge in popularity for the BJP, especially in North India. Advani's politics of polarising communities succeeded in drawing away a large chunk of the upper caste voters who were already mortified at the rise of Mandal politics, away from the Congress. In the 1991 general elections, the BJP came second after the Congress party in terms of seats.

In 1992, two years after Advani ended his yathra, despite assurances given by the Kalyan Singh led BJP Government to the Supreme Court, the Babri Masjid was demolished by the "karsevaks" with alleged complicity of the Kalyan Singh government . Advani is one of the main accused in the Babri Masjid case and stands accused of having instigated organised gangs of rioters into demolishing the mosque.

BJP, under Advani, sat in the opposition from 1991-1996 during the reign of P V Narasimha Rao. The Rao regime was repeatedly accused by the BJP of corruptions and various scandals and the BJP made good use of all these issues to project itself as the only corruption free alternative to the Congress.

After the 1996 general elections, the BJP became the single largest party and was consequently invited by the President to form the Government. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister in May 1996. However, the Government did not last long and Vajpayee resigned after thirteen days.

BJP, under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance (a BJP led coalition), again came to power with Vajpayee as PM in March 1998, when elections were called after India saw two unstable Governments headed by H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral respectively. Advani assumed the office of Home Minister and was later elevated to the position of Deputy Prime Minister. As Union Minister, Advani had a tough time with India facing a string of internal disturbances in the form of terror attacks from neighbouring Pakistan . The BJP-led NDA Government lasted for its full term of five years till 2004, with Vajpayee as the Prime Minister. The NDA was the only non-Congress Government to last for five years.

L.K. Advani with Dmitry Medvedev of Russia.

The BJP suffered a surprise and shocking defeat in the general elections held in 2004, and was forced to sit in the opposition. Another coalition, the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress, came to power, with Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. The NDA disintegrated with the Telugu Desam Party, which had supported their government from the outside, deserting the alliance.

Vajpayee retired from active politics after the 2004 defeat, propagating Advani to the forefront of the BJP. Advani became Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009. During this period, Advani had to deal with rebellion from within the party. His two close associates, Uma Bharati, and Madan Lal Khurana, and long time rival Murali Manohar Joshi publicly spoke out against him. In June 2005, he drew much criticism when he, while on a visit to the Jinnah Mausoleum at Karachi - his town of birth, endorsed Mohammad Ali Jinnah and described him a secular leader. This did not sit well with the RSS and Advani relinquished his post as BJP president. However, he withdrew the resignation a few days later.

The relationship between Advani and the RSS reached a low point when K S Sudarshan, opined that both Advani and Vajpayee give way to new leaders[2]. At the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the BJP in Mumbai in December 2005, Advani stepped down as party president and Rajnath Singh, a leader from the state of Uttar Pradesh was elected in his place. In March 2006, following a bomb blast at one of the holiest Hindu shrines at Varanasi, Advani undertook a "Bharat Suraksha Yatra" (Sojourn for National Security), to highlight the alleged failure of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (a Congress led coalition) in combating terrorism.

Prime Minister candidacy

In an interview with a news channel in December 2006, L.K. Advani stated that as the Leader of the Opposition in a parliamentary democracy, he considered himself as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the general elections,ending on 16 May 2009 [3]. This public revelation irritated some of his colleagues who were not supportive of his candidacy[4].

A major factor going in favor of Advani was that he had always been the most powerful leader in the BJP with the exception of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who endorsed Advani's candidacy shortly after the interview was done. On 2 May 2007, BJP President Rajnath Singh, in an interview, stated that: "After Atal there is only Advani. Advani is the natural choice. It is he who should be PM".[5] On 10 December 2007, the Parliamentary Board of BJP formally announced that L. K. Advani would be its prime ministerial candidate for the General Elections due in 2009.

The outcome of the 2009 General election gave a resounding victory to Indian National Congress party and its allies, allowing incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to continue in office. Following the defeat in the elections, L. K. Advani revealed his intentions to step down from the post of Leader of Opposition, which was swiftly rejected by his party.

Controversies and criticism

Babri Masjid issue

See also: Ayodhya debate

In 1989, the BJP launched a movement led by Advani on the issue of the Ram Janmabhoomi (the birth place of Rama). The BJP demanded that a temple dedicated to deity Rama be created at the site of the Babri mosque where, according to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),[6][7] a temple stood till Babur's invasion of India in 1528. Sunni Central Wakf Board rejected this claim as 'saffron' and vague claiming the remains of the temple had been found at a depth of 50 metres, while no digging up to such depths had actually taken place. However, rather than a settling on a political solution to the dispute, the disputed structure was destroyed by a Hindu mob, sparking massive Hindu-Muslim riots. In his autobiography, he refers to the day the Babri Masjid was demolished as the saddest of his life.

Jain-Hawala scandal

Main article: Hawala scandal

L.K. Advani was charged in the Hawala scandal where he allegedly received payments through hawala brokers. He and others were later discharged by the Supreme Court of India, because there was no additional evidence which could be used to charge them.[8] According to the judicial inquiry by CBI they could not find any substantive evidences; the Supreme Court ruling stated that no statement even mentioned Advani's name and that evidence against him was limited to the mention of his name on a few loose sheets of paper.[8] However, the failure of this prosecution by the CBI was widely criticized.[9] While some believe the CBI probe catapulted his rise through the BJP on his newfound "moral authority",[10] others have claimed the inquiry was a political stunt.[11][12]

Gauri Advani's allegations

Gauri Advani, the "estranged" daughter-in-law of Advani filed an affidavit before Liberhan Commission of Inquiry that outlines the following:[13][14][15]

  • He conspired with Vinay Katyar to demolish the Babri Mosque
  • He is a Sikh; he does not believe in Hinduism
  • He got idols of Hindu gods and goddesses melted and used to make his household cutlery
  • He said that without playing the religious card, BJP cannot come to power.
  • He faked a false gotra before embarking on his rath yatra that left behind a trail of blood and destruction.

She withdrew her affidavit a few days after its submission.

Autobiography

In 2008, Advani released an autobiography, My Country My Life. The book narrates autobiographical accounts and events in the life of Advani.[16] The book alongside mentions the event in the Indian politics and India's history from 1900 till date. The Book became one of the the highest selling books in India by volume.

This book covers mostly chronologically all the major and minor events in the life of Advani. My Country My Life presents L.K. Advani's memoirs in five phases.

Vir Sanghvi, of the Hindustan Times one of biggest cricitcs of the BJP commented that the book is significant not for what it says, but for what it doesn’t. "Advani’s strengths and weaknesses are captured in his new book, My Country My Life. It is a readable, rewarding and often racy account of his political career. Written from the heart, it is part-memoir and part-manifesto".[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d L.K. Advani
  2. ^ "Atal, Advani should step aside, let young rise: RSS chief". Indian Express. April 11, 2005.
  3. ^ "I'll be candidate for PM: Advani". Times of India. December 11, 2006.
  4. ^ "Advani opens his heart, and a can of worms". Economic Times. December 11, 2006.
  5. ^ Mohua Chatterjee, TNN (2 May 2007). "LK 'natural' choice for PM: Rajnath". Times of India.
  6. ^ "Evidence of temple found: ASI". August 25, 2003.
  7. ^ "Layers of truth". The Week.
  8. ^ a b SC clears Advani, Shukla in hawala case Indian Express - March 3, 1998
  9. ^ Advani has hit bull's eye each time Times of India - March 30, 2004
  10. ^ Advani's influence in the BJP sprang from his moral authority The Telegraph, Calcutta - December 30, 2005
  11. ^ Which Jain? What Hawala? Indian Express - September 15, 1998
  12. ^ Ex-official says hawala probe was manipulated Times of India - November 27, 2006
  13. ^ The Hindu
  14. ^ The Tribune
  15. ^ Milli Gazzette
  16. ^ Advani`s memoir hits the jackpot
  17. ^ LK before he leaps - Vir Sanghvi

Further reading

  • Lal Krishna Advani. My Country My Life. (2008). ISBN 978-8129113634.
  • Lal Krishna Advani. New Approaches to Security and Development (Paperback). (2003). ISBN 978-9812302199.
  • Lal Krishna Advani. A Prisoner's Scrap-Book (Hardcover). (2002). ISBN 978-8188322107.
  • Atmaram Kulkarni. The Advent of Advani: An Authentic Critical Biography (Hardcover). (1995). ISBN 978-8185345222.
  • Sudheendra Kulkarni. Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra: The story of Lal Krishna Advani's patriotic pilgrimage. (1997). ASIN: B0000CPBO7.
  • Pentagon Press. Lal Krishna Advani: Today's Patel (Paperback). (2002). ISBN 978-8186830574.
  • G. Katyal. K. Bhushan. Lal Krishna Advani: Deputy Prime Minister (Hardcover). ASIN: B001G6MAZA
  • Pentagon Press. Lala Krishna Advani (Paperback). (2007). ISBN 978-8186830598.
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