LK Advani’s Blog

गत् सप्ताह इण्डिया हैरिटेज रिसर्च फाऊण्डेशन के साथ मिलकर रूपा एण्ड कम्पनी द्वारा प्रकाशित किए जा रहे ग्यारह खण्डों वाले ‘इनसायक्लोपीडिया ऑफ हिन्दुइज्म’ की विशेष पूर्वसमीक्षा आयोजित की गई थी। नई दिल्ली के चाणक्यपुरी स्थित विवेकानन्द फाऊण्डेशन सभागार में पहले तीन खण्ड प्रदर्शित किए गए थे। इस विचार-विमर्श के कार्यक्रम का विषय ‘आधुनिक विश्व में हिन्दुइज्म’ (Hinduism in the Contemporary World) था।

दो घण्टे से अधिक चले इस प्रबुध्द और उच्चस्तरीय विचार-विमर्श को ध्यान मग्न सुनने वाले लगभग 400 श्रोताओं में मैं भी एक था। इसमें भाग लेने वाले प्रतिष्ठित वक्ताओं में स्वामी आत्मा Click to Read More

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Last week a special preview of 11-volume Encyclopedia of Hinduism being published by Rupa & Co. in association with the India Heritage Research Foundation, was held in Delhi. Three volumes of the set were put up on display at the Vivekananda Foundation Auditorium at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. The Programme was a panel discussion on “Hinduism in the Contemporary World’’.

I was one among the 400 strong audience who listened with rapt attention to the enlightening and elevating discussion that lasted for over two hours. The distinguished panelists included Swami Atma Priyananda, Vice-chancellor Sri Ramakrishna Vivekananda Vishwavidyalaya, Dr. Kapil Kapoor, Editor in Chief, Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Dr. Kavita Sharma, Director, India International Centre, Dr. Lokesh Chandra, renowned scholar and author, and Sadhvi Bhagwati, Secretary India Heritage Research Foundation.

In a way, the tenor and content of that evening’s discussion reminded me of several such debates I had heard as a boy in my teens, still a student in Karachi.

Born in 1927, I spent the first twenty years of my life under British rule. My fondness for books started even while I was in school. A book much talked about those days was Mother India by Katherine Mayo. If an Indian read the book, he would either start feeling ashamed of his own country, culture and religion, or he would start hating the British colonialists who had created a climate in the country Click to Read More

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Madhopur is a small town some 12 kilometres away from the army cantonment of Pathankot. Last week, this town witnessed history being made.

A one-lakh strong gathering of people drawn from Punjab, Jammu- Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh congregated here to pay homage to the memory of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerji whose magnificent statue was installed here to commemorate his launching of a campaign way back in 1953 for the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir state with India.

The place where the Memorial stands has been named Ekta Sthal. The larger than life-size statue has been carved by famous sculptor Ram Sutar. The decision to construct the Memorial was taken by Sardar Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab. The unveiling of the statue was done by Shri Mohan Rao Bhagwat, R.S.S. Chief. As Shri Badal himself was unwell, Deputy C.M. Sardar Sukhbir Singh Badal presided over the grand function, which was attended by BJP President, Shri Nitin Gadkari and many other leaders of our party.

Dr. S.P. Mookerji was a life-long critic of the Congress Party. But, like Dr. Ambedkar, who too was a strong Congress critic, he had been inducted into the first Union Cabinet by Pandit Nehru, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi. After the adoption of the Indian Constitution Click to Read More

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पठानकोट की सैन्य छावनी (आर्मी कैंट) से लगभग 12 किलोमीटर की दूरी पर स्थित एक छोटा सा कस्बा है माधोपुर। गत् सप्ताह इस कस्बे ने इतिहास बनते देखा।

पंजाब, जम्मू-कश्मीर और हिमाचल प्रदेश से आए लगभग एक लाख लोगों ने डा. श्यामा प्रसाद मुकर्जी, जिनकी भव्य मूर्ति यहां स्थापित की गई है, की स्मृति को अपनी श्रध्दांजलि अर्पित की। यहां से 1953 में उन्होंने जम्मू और कश्मीर के भारत में पूर्ण विलय के अभियान की शुरुआत की थी।

जहां उनका स्मारक बनाया गया है उसका नाम ‘एकता स्थल’ रखा गया है। यह आदमकद भव्य मूर्ति प्रसिध्द शिल्पकार राम सुतार द्वारा तराशी Click to Read More

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जब वर्ष 2008 में भारतीय जनता पार्टी ने सबसे पहले स्विस बैंकों और अन्य टैक्स हेवन्स में भारतीय धन के गुप्त रुप से जमा होने के मुद्दे को उठाया तो कांग्रेस पार्टी के प्रवक्ताओं ने इसका मजाक उड़ाया। वे सवाल करते थे कि जब एनडीए ६ वर्ष के लिए सत्ता में थी,तब इस मामले में क्यों कार्रवाई नहीं की गई। प्रधानमंत्री डा. मनमोहन सिंह ने इसे चुनावी स्टंट कहा।

इसलिए, जब भारत के संसदीय इतिहास में पहली बार राष्ट्रपति के अभिभाषण में इस मुद्दे का उल्लेख किया गया तो मुझे प्रसन्नता हुई। संसद की संयुक्त बैठक को सम्बोधित अभिभाषण में कहा गया कि: ”भारत कर सम्बन्धी सूचना के आदान -प्रदान को सुगम Click to Read More

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When in the year 2008, the BJP first raised the issue of Indian money stashed abroad in Swiss Banks, or other tax havens, we were ridiculed by Congress Party spokesmen. Why did you not pursue the matter when NDA was in office for six years, they asked. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh himself described it as an election stunt.

I feel happy therefore that for the first time in the history of the Indian Parliament the President’s Address itself has referred to this matter and told the joint session: “India is an active part of the global efforts to facilitate exchange of tax information and take action against tax evaders.”

In Parliament, both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister have not only conceded the significance of the issue but affirmed that Government is proactively pursuing the issue, and negotiating with twenty countries for exchange of information about Indian nationals who have hoarded their tax- evaded, or ill-earned wealth abroad.

The country, however, will not remain satisfied with just affirmations and announcements. Ever since the BJP has raised this matter two years back, Congress leaders have been pooh-poohing the estimates of Indian wealth abroad made by the BJP Task Force which studied the matter. A senior Congress Minister said these estimates were based on obscure sources on the internet.

The Task Force set up by the BJP comprised Shri S. Gurumurthy (Chartered Accountant and investigative writer, Chennai); Click to Read More

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नई दिल्ली में पहली गैर-कांग्रेसी सरकार 1975 के आपातकाल के विरूध्द लोगों के गुस्से का परिणाम थी। श्री मोरारजी देसाई के नेतृत्व वाली सरकार में मुझे सरकार में जाने का पहला अनुभव हुआ। प्रधानमंत्री जी ने मुझसे पूछा था कि क्या मंत्रालय के विषय में मेरी कोई निजी प्राथमिकता है? निस्संकोच मेरा जवाब था: सूचना एवं प्रसारण मंत्रालय।

मेरी इस पसंद के तीन कारण थे। एक पत्रकार के नाते मैं मीडिया से परिचित था। मेरा मानना था कि आपातकाल के दौरान लोकतंत्र को सर्वाधिक नुकसान मीडिया और पत्रकारों पर लगे प्रतिबंधों के कारण पहुंचा। तीसरा, काफी समय से मैं सरकार से अनुरोध कर रहा था कि वह Click to Read More

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The first non Congress Government formed in New Delhi was the result of people’s anger against the 1975 emergency. In this government, headed by Shri Morarji Desai, I had my first experience of Government.The Prime Minister asked me whether I had any personal preference in the matter of portfolio. My response was unhesitating : Information and Broadcasting.

Three factors prompted me to make this choice. As a journalist I was familiar with the media. My opinion was that the maximum damage caused to democracy during the emergency was because of curbs imposed on the media and on media men. Thirdly, for long, I had been pleading that the Government stranglehold on Akashwani must be smashed, and autonomy be conferred on it.

As I and B Minister I came across the script of a feature broadcast by the BBC which I found of great interest in the course of my campaigning for electoral reforms. The programme was a serial on the functioning of British Parliament over the centuries. In these papers, I read about a remarkable incident that occurred in eighteenth century Britain.

A member of the House of Commons received a letter from his constituents in which he was asked to vote against certain excise proposals in the Budget. According to the BBC feature, the M.P. sent a stinging reply to his voters as follows :

“Gentlemen, I have received your letter about the excise, and I am surprised at your insolence in writing to me at all.

“You know, and I Click to Read More

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When in July 2001, General Musharraf returned from the Agra summit he was very angry with the Indian Government for having invited him and sent him back empty-handed, without even a joint statement containing some goody goody observations about Indo-Pak amity.

In his initial reaction all his vitriol seemed concentrated on me. Later, however, in his memoir, In The Line of Fire, he did not spare even Shri Vajpayee. His acerbic comment was:

“There is the man and there is the moment. When man and moment meet, history is made. Vajpayee failed to grasp the moment, and lost his moment in history”

Taking due note of his remarks, Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee reacted, and put the record straight thus:

“General Musharraf’s reported comment on the failure of our talks at Agra have surprised me. Every one in our government was acutely alive to the fact that there could be no normalcy in Indo-Pak relations until cross border terrorism, which had cost thousands of innocent lives, ended. But during our talks General Musharraf took a stand that the violence that was taking place in Jammu and Kashmir could not be described as ‘terrorism’. He continued to claim that the bloodshed in the state was nothing but the people’s battle for freedom. It was this stand of General Musharraf that India just could not accept. And this was responsible for the failure of the Agra Summit.”

Indeed, my own opinion is that it was Shri Vajpayee’s Click to Read More

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जुलाई, 2001 में जब जनरल मुशर्रफ आगरा शिखर वार्ता से खाली हाथ लौटे तो वह भारत सरकार से काफी खफा थे कि एक तो उन्हें निमंत्रित किया गया और उस पर भी उन्हें खाली हाथ लौटा दिया-यहां तक कि कोई संयुक्त वक्तव्य भी जारी नहीं किया गया जिसमें भारत-पाक शांति के बारे में कुछ अच्छी-अच्छी बातें उल्लिखित होतीं।

उनकी शुरुआती प्रतिक्रिया में ऐसा लगा कि उनका सारा गुस्सा मुझ पर केंद्रित है। यद्यपि, बाद में अपनी संस्मरणात्मक पुस्तक ”इन द लाइन आफ फॉयर” में उन्होंने श्री वाजपेयी को भी नहीं बख्शा। उनकी कटुतापूर्ण टिप्पणी थी:

”एक ओर आदमी होता है और एक ओर समय होता है। जब दोनों मिलते हैं तो Click to Read More

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