×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Advani tries to show he is the face of Hindutva

Im proud of joining Ram Janambhoomi movement
Last Updated 23 November 2009, 18:52 IST
ADVERTISEMENT

The Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed a desperate L K Advani trying to recast himself in the role of the Hindutva hardliner.

On notice from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to step down as the Leader of Opposition either by the end of this year or early next year, the BJP veteran took advantage of the row over alleged leaking of the Liberhan Commission’s report to remind both his party and the guardians of the Sangh Parivar his role in the Ram Janambhoomi movement.
“I am proud for my association with the Ram Janambhoomi movement….Setting up a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya in keeping with the aspirations of a large number of people is the aim of my life and I will keep on pursuing it, till it happens,” said Advani, as the agitated MPs of his party stalled the proceedings of the House protesting alleged leaking of the Liberhan report on the 1992 demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.

The senior BJP leader had in 1989 embarked on a ‘rath-yatra’ that had given momentum to the saffron brigade’s movement to build a temple in what it claimed to be the birth-place of Ram. Finally, on December 6, 1992, ‘karsevaks’ demolished the Babri Mosque.

Advani and other BJP leaders like Uma Bharti, who later quit the party, and Murli Manohar Joshi were present when the disputed shrine had been reduced to rubbles.
The Ram Janambhoomi movement had catapulted the BJP to power in 1998.  “I was distressed when that structure (the disputed shrine) was demolished. The BJP, RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders who were present there did try to stop the people from demolishing the structure,” the BJP leader told the LS, as he demanded that the Government should immediately table the Liberhan Commission’s report in the Parliament.

He also expressed anguish as media-reports based on Liberhan Commission’s findings said that the probe-panel had not only indicted Joshi and himself, but also the former Prime Minister and BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Shocked
“I would have accepted it as a challenge, had it (the media report) said that I had been indicted. But I was shocked as it said that Vajpayeeji, who is ailing these days and who has been my leader all through my life, had been indicted,” said Advani.
DH News Service

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 23 November 2009, 13:06 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT