In Shakespeare’s play ‘Twelfth Night,’ Maria writes a letter, forged in Olivia’s name, to deceive Malvolio into believing Olivia is in love with him. Her words, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” transcend their original context, carrying a much deeper meaning. By neatly segregating ‘greatness’ into three distinct dimensions, Shakespeare has provided us with a clarity of context for understanding and appreciating the genuine accomplishments of a man while also evaluating the contributing factors that define his ‘greatness’. In this article, I aim to explore the political journey and contributions of one of the greatest icons in Indian politics—a man who can legitimately be hailed as one of the leading architects of modern India.
Lal Krishna Advani, chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government for the Bharat Ratna, comes across as a man who achieved enormous heights through sheer hardwork and relentless dedication to nationalist cause. Few people can claim to have so deeply influenced India’s political landscape as Lal Krishna Advani. An epitome of probity and integrity in public life, he stands as one of the towering stalwarts of Indian politics who devoted his entire life in the selfless service of Bharat Mata. A lifelong ‘Swayam Sevak’ Advani never compromised on the core philosophy of Sangh that nation always comes first. As a lifelong ‘Swayam Sevak,’ Advani steadfastly adhered to the core philosophy of the Sangh, where the nation always came first.
Born in Karachi, undivided India, on November 8 1927, he was compelled to leave his birthplace in the aftermath of the partition. In his autobiography “My Country, My Life,” he reflects, “While on the flight, I never realised when I left Pakistan’s airspace behind and entered India’s. On the ground, however, the boundary, invisible from the sky, was being drawn in blood, literally.” Advani bore first-hand witness to the colossal catastrophe caused by the partition, believing it could have been avoided if the Muslim League, Lord Mountbatten, and the Congress leadership at the time had “conducted themselves differently.”
His association with the Sangh began in 1942 when he was a teenager in Karachi, and it persisted when he came to India after the partition. In the initial years, he served as a Sangh Pracharak before transitioning to a whole-time party activist of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. In early 1957, on the instructions of Deendayal, Advani arrived in Delhi, where he was assigned the responsibility to help Atal and the other newly elected MPs in their parliamentary work. Advani was selected to assist Atal, partly owing to his proficiency in the English language, which enabled him to adeptly ‘navigate the English-speaking elites of Lutyen’s Delhi’. This marked the beginning of his over six-decade-long illustrious political journey, during which he would significantly alter the political course of the country. Central to this extraordinary journey was the remarkable synergy between Advani and Atal. A bond which has not just assumed legendary status over the years but has also become an unparalleled narrative of profound mutual respect and admiration in the ruthless world of politics. Highlighting the impeccable personal equation between the two leaders Vinay Sitapati, in his book ‘Jugalbandi’, writes: ‘Vajpayee and Advani were able to upturn their internal hierarchies not once but twice. The 1995 decision of Advani to sacrifice for the sake of Vajpayee was not the first time they had switched places with each other…while Vajpayee controlled the party from 1968 onwards, he wordlessly stepped aside in 1986 and served under Advani for the next decade’. This ability to forgo for the other, complement the other- all the while maintaining distinctive dispositions and dogmas- showcases the BJP’s nature and effectiveness’.
It’s crucial to remember that in the early years of independence, Congress held undisputed dominance in the country’s political and electoral landscape, with opposition parties having only symbolic representation in the parliament or state assemblies. Among these opposition parties, only Jan Sangh stood out for being formed on a clear ideological foundation. The party, however, suffered significant setbacks with the untimely deaths of its tallest leaders, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1953 and Deendayal in 1967, during the initial two decades of its inception. In the subsequent years, Lal Krishna Advani, alongside Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other leaders went on to strengthen the foundations of Jan Sangh (later, Bharatiya Janata Party) while expanding its organisational base. It’s largely due to the formidable leadership of Advani that after being squarely defeated in the 1984 elections, the BJP in the next few years rose like a phoenix, emerging as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha and also forming the Government at the centre for the first time. Although the first BJP Government lasted only for thirteen days, it firmly established the party as a viable alternative to the Congress paving the way for its bigger successes in the subsequent elections. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to assert that if Atal embodied the heart and soul of the party, Advani constituted its mind and body; together, they erected a party organisation that could rightfully claim to be the genuine representative of the nation’s long-cherished ideals and aspirations.
Advani ‘s eventful political journey, transitioning from an ordinary pracharak in Rajasthan to one of the tallest leaders in the country, is punctuated by three significant milestones—1st, the Emergency; 2nd, the Ram Mandir movement; and 3rd, the ‘Hawala’ Scandal. These events underscored three distinct personal attributes of Advan, ultimately positioning him among the greatest political icons of modern India.
Emergency
Advani, in his own words, ‘was both a victim of emergency and a soldier in the army of democracy that won the battle against it’. Talking about emergency, he writes in his autobiography, ‘Human history is replete with examples that no ideal, however exalted and deep- rooted in a country’s cultural-spiritual being, is permanently immune to attack from individuals driven by egotism and blinded by lust for power. When such attacks are mounted, the targeted ideal does suffer a momentary eclipse. But in its very suffering, it inspires large masses of people to struggle for the eradication of resultant darkness. It is almost as if history deliberately creates the ordeal as an opportunity for the nation to learn the right lessons and thereby reinforce its commitment to that ideal’.
For nineteen months when emergency was in force Advani was incarcerated in Bangalore jail where he wrote a booklet titled, A Take of Two Emergencies. The booklet, which was part of the underground literature for the use of pro-democracy activists, sought to draw a comparison between Hitler and Indira Gandhi. He wrote:
“Every other day, Indira Gandhi and her cohorts keep asserting that whatever they have been doing these past months is ‘within the four corners of the Constitution’. The charge being leveled against them by the opposition and by the Western press that they have subverted democracy is therefore untenable, it is argued. The history of Nazi Germany conclusively shows that doing anything constitutionally is not necessarily the same thing as doing it in a democratic manner. Hitler always used to boast that he had done nothing illegal or unconstitutional. Indeed, he made a democratic constitution an instrument of dictatorship”.
When the emergency was revoked and Janata Party Government came to power after trouncing Congress in the 1977 parliamentary elections, Advani was made the minister of information and broadcasting minister in the Government of the Janata Party. It was in his role as the I&B minister that Advani decried journalists with words that have since become indelible in the annals of political discourse:
“You were asked only to bend, but you crawled”
In a political career spanning over six decades, Advani showcased deep respect and reverence for the ideals enshrined in the constitution. He believed that the cardinal values of the constitution must be preserved in all circumstances.
Ram Mandir Movement
The Ram Mandir movement proved to be another important milestone in Advani’s political journey. After becoming BJP president in 1986, Advani took pledge to rebuild Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. During the national executive meeting at Palampur in 1989, the party passed a resolution advocating the construction of the Ram Mandir. On September 25 1990, Advani embarked on a rathyatra – from Somnath to Ayodhya- that would permanently alter India’a politics. The yatra could not reach its destination as Advani was arrested in Samastipur by Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Government in Bihar, however, it proved immensely successful in mobilising public opinion in the favour of Ram Mandir and making it a civilisational issue for Hindus. Documenting Advani’s emergence as the face of Hindu resurgence in the early 1990s, Inderjeet Badhwar, former editor of India Today, remarked: “Perhaps Advani’s distinctive position in the BJP leadership lies in his ability to articulate a compelling line of logic, asserting that his stance is nationalist while that of his opponents is communal. His concept of ‘positive secularism’ contends that supporting Article 370 and resisting a uniform civil code amounts to a separatist position, a retreat into ‘minorityism,’ whereas his stance is inherently nationalist.” Advani consistently stood as a vehement critic of Nehruvian secularism, often denouncing it as ‘Pseudo Secularism.’ Responding to opponents who accused the BJP of communalism, he stated,
“You may argue that Hindu bashing or disparaging the moral and spiritual essence of Hinduism’s inherent liberalism qualifies as secularism. However, I maintain that equating Ram Janmabhoomi with the Babri Masjid is tantamount to equating Ram with Babar.”
Today, when a majestic Mandir of Bhagwan Ram has finally been reconstructed in Ayodhya, we must not diminish or forget Advani’s colossal role in this transformative movement.
Hawala Scandal
The third critical moment in his political journey came in 1996 when a “false and motivated” hawala case was framed against him, and other politicians, who were accused of receiving “sleaze money” through hawala brokers. Deeply perturbed by such malicious charges, Advani tendered his resignation from the Lok Sabha, and pledged to not contest Lok Sabha elections until he was exonerated by the courts of all accusations. The truth prevailed; after sixteen months of hearing, the Delhi High Court, on 8 April 1997, cleared him of all charges. The hawala case firmly cemented Advani’s stature as a leader of unimpeachable propriety, a colossus who steadfastly refused to compromise on his core values.
Over the span of more than six decades dedicated to public service, Advani tirelessly worked to forge a formidable political alternative to the Congress party, a mission he pursued relentlessly by strengthening the BJP and enhancing its organisational framework. More importantly, Advani not only cultivated the successive generations of leaders moulded in the ethos of nationalism but also laid the groundwork for their ascension to positions of leadership. The BJP’s current status as the world’s largest political party owes a considerable debt to the strong and decisive leadership of Advani during its formative years. His inclusive and imaginative leadership approach played a critical role in shaping the party into giant political force it is today.
By honouring Advani with Bharat Ratna the Government has rightly acknowledged his sterling contribution to the nation building. Indeed, he stands as a true ‘Ratna’ of Bharat, epitomising exceptional service and dedication.
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