LK Advani’s Blog

In 1950, the Constituent Assembly of Independent India adopted a constitution committing the country to Parliamentary Democracy as its system of government.

Till then, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerji was a member of Pandit Nehru’s Cabinet, holding the important portfolio of Industrial Development. In the Constituent Assembly, along with Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel, Dr. Ambedkar and others like Dr. K.M. Munshi etc., Dr. Mookerji also played a critical role in shaping India’s constitution.

With the constitution framing task completed and the country poised at the threshold of its first General Election, Dr. Mookerji decided to part company with the Congress Government, launch a party of his own, and seek the support of the masses on issues like Kashmir, Tibet, China’s designs, plight of Hindus in Pakistan-both West and East, and the urgent need to make the people realize that our country’s economic progress could not be achieved by imitating western models. All these were issues on which he differed very sharply with Pandit Nehru’s way of thinking. On several of these matters even Sardar Patel did not agree with Pandit Nehru.

In 1951, thus, Dr. Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Those of us who are in the BJP today and were old enough at that time to aspire making some worthwhile contribution to free India’s nascent democracy were attracted towards Dr. Mookerji’s thinking. Our political yatra thus started in 1951 and except for a Click to Read More

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कांग्रेस पार्टी सदैव पण्डित नेहरू को भारत की विदेश नीति के अनुकरणीय कर्णधार के रूप में प्रस्तुत करती रही है।

दूसरी ओर, हमारे राजनीतिक आन्दोलन के संस्थापक डा0 श्यामा प्रसाद मुखर्जी, पाकिस्तान और चीन के सम्बन्ध में पण्डितजी की नीति को भयंकर भूल मानते रहे हैं।

दु:ख की बात है कि 1962 में चीन के विश्वासघात से लगे सदमे ने नेहरू की जान ले ली। पाकिस्तान से निपटने में उनकी गलत नीति ने आतंकवाद और कश्मीर जैसे दो घाव बना दिए जो आज तक दु:खदायी बने हुए हैं।

‘न्यूजवीक इंटरनेशनल’ के सम्पादक फरीद जकरिया (जिनके स्वर्गीय पिता निष्ठावान कांग्रेसी थे) ने भारत की विदेश नीति के Click to Read More

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सन् 2008 में राष्ट्रपति पद के चुनाव अभियान के दौरान बराक ओबामा ने टिप्पणी की थी कि यदि वे राष्ट्रपति चुन लिए जाते हैं तो ”कश्मीर संकट के समाधान के लिए पाकिस्तान और भारत के साथ मिलकर गंभीरता से कार्य करना” उनके प्रशासन के महत्वपूर्ण कार्यों में से होगा। ‘टाइम’ पत्रिका के जे केलिन से बातचीत में, ओबामा ने विस्तार से इसे यूं कहा:

“कश्मीर में इन दिनों जैसी दिलचस्प स्थिति है उसमें इस मसले को कब्र से निकालकर हल करने की एक बड़ी कूटनीतिक चुनौती है। इसके लिए एक विशेष दूत नियुक्त करना, आंकड़ेबाजी के बजाय सही मायने में प्रयास और खास तौर पर भारतीयों को यह समझाना और इसके लिए Click to Read More

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The Congress Party has always projected Pandit Nehru as an exemplary helmsman of India’s foreign policy.

The founder of our political movement, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerji, on the other hand, regarded Panditji’s handling of Pakistan, as well as China, as two egregious blunders of his.

Sadly, the shock that Nehru suffered when confronted by China’s gross betrayal in 1962 virtually cost him his life. His mishandling of Pakistan has left terrorism and Kashmir as two festering sores for our body politik right up to this day.

Fareed Zakaria, Editor of Newsweek International (whose late father was a committed Congressman) has recently made some very pertinent observations about Nehru’s conduct of India’s Foreign Policy. A Penguin publication by Zakaria has been titled “The Post American world”. In this book Zakaria says that the “central paradox of India” today is that “its society is open, eager and confident ready to take on the world”, but its state – its ruling class – is “hesitant, cautious and suspicious of the changing realities around it”. The Newsweek Editor adds: “Nowhere is this tension more obvious than in the realm of foreign policy, the increasingly large and important task of determining how India should fit into the new world”.

Zakaria’s book recalls that when Mountbatten suggested that there be a powerful chief of defense staff, Nehru turned down the suggestion.

Zakaria adds Click to Read More

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In the course of his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama had remarked that “working with Pakistan and India to try to resolve the Kashmir crisis in a serious way” would be among the critical tasks of his administration if he was elected. Talking to Joe Klein of Time magazine, Obama elaborated :

“Kashmir in particular is an interesting situation (that) is obviously a potential tar pit diplomatically. But for us to devote serious diplomatic resources to get a special envoy in there, to figure out a plausible approach, and essentially make the argument to the Indians, you guys are on the brink of being an economic superpower, why do you want to keep on messing with this? To make the argument to the Pakistanis, look at India and what they are doing, why do you want to keep on being bogged down with this particular (issue) at a time when the biggest threat now is coming from the Afghan border? I think there is moment when potentially we could get their attention. It won’t be easy, but it’s important.”

New Delhi’s sudden announcement last week that India was willing to hold foreign Secretary level parleys with Pakistan has naturally made many political analysts in the country ask : is this the consequence of Obama’s above assertion being put into action?

The question people have been asking in a more straight forward manner is : After the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, India had been steadfastly refusing to resume talks with Click to Read More

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विगत सप्ताह कर्नाटक के हम्पी में विजयनगर साम्राज्य के महान सम्राट कृष्णदेव राय के राज्याभिषेक की ५००वीं वर्षगांठ के शुभ अवसर पर एक भव्य समारोह आयोजित हुआ. इसके अत्यंत सफल आयोजन के लिए राज्य सरकार और मुख्यमंत्री श्री येदियुरप्पा को मेरी हार्दिक बधाई.

प्रति वर्ष, इस अवसर पर, एक त्रि-दिवसीय उत्सव मनाया जाता है जिसमे हम्पी नगर के मध्य से एक भव्य शोभायात्रा निकाली जाती है. पर, दुर्भाग्यवश, इस महान साम्राज्य के गौरवशाली इतिहास के बारे में इस क्षेत्र से बाहर देश में बहुत कम लोग ही जानते हैं. गत वर्ष, पहली बार मुझे हम्पी जाने और इस शोभा यात्रा में सम्मिलित होने का अवसर Click to Read More

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My hearty kudos to the State Government of Karnataka and its Chief Minister Shri Yediyurappa for organizing last week, the 500th Anniversary of the coronation of Samrat Krishna Deva Raya at Hampi in a really befitting manner.

Every year a three day utsav is celebrated at Hampi, a colorful procession organized through the city, but not many in the country outside this region are really familiar with the glorious history of this great kingdom, aptly known as Vijaynagar (the city of Victory). Last year I had occasion to visit Hampi for the first time, and participated in this procession.

The procession used to start from the main temple of the town – the Virupakasha temple. When my family visited the temple last year the Head Priest welcomed me and my family and informed us that for Hampi the coming year would be very significant. It would mark the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Shri Krishna Deva Raya, the greatest king of the Vijaya Nagar Empire. I promised to visit again in 2010, and so I did.

This year several lakhs of citizens from all parts of the State flocked to Hampi and participated in the celebrations with great gusto and joy. Pujya Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, Head of the Art of Living Organisation also attended. He addressed the nearly one lakh strong gathering that had assembled at the concluding function where the pièce de résistance was a musical extravaganza depicting Krishna Deva Raya’s coronation. The music programme was Click to Read More

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