Country’s youngsters should score high on “spiritual quotient” to succeed in life, BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani said on Friday while addressing students at Hansraj College.
The college had held a screening for his daughter Pratibha Advani’s documentary film Tiranga. “India needs a man-making machinery. And, I think amongst all quotients, intelligence and spiritual quotient, youngsters need spiritual quotient the most,” the BJP leader, who is a great movie buff himself, said.
Speaking on the film, Advani said, “I have seen this film many times and I feel quenched each time I see it.” His daughter’s documentary traces history and evolution of the Indian national flag.
“The cinema that instils patriotism in youngsters is a national service,” he said lauding her daughter. “You all gave her a standing ovation, and I feel I really have been quenched.”
Inder Mohan Kapahi, a leader of BJP-backed National Teachers’ Democratic Front, had earlier promoted students to rise up to applause Pratibha Advani for her “patriotic” film.
On his role as a parliamentarian, the former Deputy Prime Minister said, “Bolna toh chalta rahta hai Parliament main, par wo aajkal kam hota hai (I keep speaking in the Parliament, but these days I speak less).”
Advani reckoned he had come to the college’s golden jubilee celebrations. When somebody in the audience prompted that he had come in 1998, he said, “That is what I was saying. It’s is an important year for me.”
The BJP-led coalition had first come to power in 1998.His daughter, who was once a well-known face on television, said, “Whenever I make a film. I think, what will dada say when he watches it.”
Kapahi used the occasion to ruffle some feathers. He recalled that there was a ruckus in Kirori Mal College over screening of the documentary Muzaffarnagar Abhi Baki Hai and said copies of Pratibha’s film should be given to film societies in other colleges of Delhi University.
Members of RSS-affiliate Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had early this month stopped screening of the documentary based on the September 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, saying it was “anti-national”.