Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 5
A day after BJP patriarch LK Advani penned his feelings on the state of affairs in the country, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s brother- in-law Robert Vadra slammed the BJP for “ignoring its most important pillar”.
Taking to the social media, he wrote: “The most important pillar of the party — long lost and forgotten. The true leaders with ethics and statesmanship should be rewarded and not ignored. We should not let him wither away. It is disgraceful if we cannot value their seniority and advice. I have always respected him as a good Opposition leader. Sad, his own party has forgotten him.”
Addressing a poll rally at the fort city of Chandrapur in Maharashtra, Rahul Gandhi alleged the PM had humiliated Advani, disrespecting his guru. “Who is Modi’s guru? Advani. Modi just kicked Advani out (joota marke stage se utara’),” he said, a reference to Advani not getting the ticket from Gandhinagar where BJP party chief Amit Shah is in the fray.
Advani has been relegated to the ‘margdarshak mandal’, which has not met once since it was formed. Coming at a time when the PM and party chief have made national security a key plank with Hindutva poster boy Yogi Adityanath and senior leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi referring to the Indian Army as ‘Modiji ki sena’, much is being read into Advani’s remarks.
The BJP downplayed the “criticism”, with the PM saying: “Advani Ji perfectly sums up the true essence of the BJP.” Interestingly, Advani was BJP’s original Hindutva face, who laid the foundation for his party’s rise with his “Ram Rath Yatra,” polarising communities. It is often questioned had not Advani steered the BJP into associating with the Ram Mandir movement at the party national executive meeting in Palampur and embarked upon the first-of-its-kind “political mobilisation for a religious cause,” where the BJP may have been today.
Observers say Advani did so to enthuse the party cadre, overcome infighting and instill indiscipline while maintaining close ties with the Sangh. The yatra did not end as planned, but it served the purpose with the BJP crossing the 100 mark in the 1991 elections to reach 120. After the Babri Masjid was brought down on December 6, 1992, the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha and formed its first government in 1996.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2uPeIja
via Today’s News Headlines
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