Opinion
Advani's Memoirs
- Raising More Questions than Answers
by
Monobina Gupta
L.K Advani's
walk down memory lane is proving to be too bumpy for comfort. The
release of his memoirs "My Country, My Life", coming close on the heels
of the launch of his prime ministerial candidature by his party has
opened up an unexpected can of worms.
The flood of controversy threatening to swamp the author has come at a
time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was all revved up to
answer the final call. He had finally got the backing of his party for
the top job in the country that he had been eyeing for long.
But his memoirs are messing up his credibility, ruining the one label he
badly wants to flaunt - of being the perfect commander who is ahead of
every crisis, particularly the crisis wrought by terrorism. The book is
raising a question mark over Advani's ability to lead the nation,
especially because at the core of the controversy lies the Kandahar
hijack issue and Advani's role in it as the home minister then.
Apart from the Kandahar incident, Advani's memoirs are inflicted with a
rash of gaffes, a result of shoddy research. It must have given the
BJP's prime ministerial candidate a few blushes to be told that Satya
Pal Dang, a leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) whom he
pronounced dead in the book, is alive and kicking in Punjab.
Or to be tutored on the execution of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh,
Rajguru and Sukhdev. Contrary to Advani's research that the three were
executed for hurling bombs inside the Delhi assembly, the freedom
fighters were put to death in the Lahore conspiracy case.
But the shrill sparring over the Kandahar hijack has wounded Advani
where it hurts most. It has botched up the image he wanted to graft on
himself - a 'iron man' - a resolute home minister - in the mould of
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India's first home minister and
deputy prime minister.
By his own admission made in his autobiography and a slew of interviews
later, Advani, then home minister of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led
government, was unaware of the fact that his colleague and then external
affairs minister, Jaswant Singh, was being sent to Kandahar to ensure
safe passage for three terrorists and the hijackers who were holding to
ransom the lives of 160 passengers, on board IC 814.
Advani inadvertently has revived dark memories of the hijack drama that
was played out before a stunned nation nine years ago.
In an interview to a television news channel, the BJP leader said: "I
don't think I am answerable for that (sending the foreign minister with
the terrorists), if the committee on security had taken a decision."
Prodded whether he knew of the decision, Advani responded: "I didn't
know about it. I came to know when he (Jaswant) was going."
For a former home minister who strongly favoured the "hot pursuit"
theory of crossing the Pakistan border to smash terror camps, Advani's
admission of ignorance of such a crucial event lands him in a spot.
Worse still, George Fernandes, the then defence minister, has called
Advani's bluff by pointing out that the decision to send Jaswant Singh
to Kandahar was taken in the presence of Advani.
If the book set the stage for a flurry of controversies, more
revelations, made later by the author in various media interviews, added
to the spice. The Congress, having got its claws into none other than
the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is waiting for the kill.
But Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior BJP leader, like others in his party,
has adopted aggression as the best form of defence. "The Congress has no
face to talk about terrorism. Most of the ills of terrorism from
Bhindranwale to Maoism began with the party," he said.
Responding to Sonia Gandhi's blistering attack at a public rally on
Advani on Kandahar, Prasad said: "Sonia Gandhi has no experience in
politics. How can she comment on somebody with 50 years of experience?"
But underneath the BJP's "all is well" response, there is a snip of
uneasiness, triggered by its prime ministerial candidate's book. And
spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi hopes that the controversy will die down.
"Controversies have their own life. They will die down after some time,"
he said.
For the moment, however they are multiplying by the day.
(Monobina Gupta is the political editor at IANS. The views expressed are
personal. She can be contacted at monobina.g@ians.in)
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L.K Advani's
walk down memory lane is proving to be too bumpy for comfort. The
release of his memoirs "My Country, My Life", coming close on the heels
of the launch of his prime ministerial candidature by his party has
opened up an unexpected can of worms.