The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani‘s “charm offensive”, courtesy his memoirs My Life, My Country, has run into rough water thanks to his breathstopping claim that he did not know of external affairs minister Jaswant Singh‘s plan to travel to Kandahar to swap three terrorists for the release of the 160 passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight, IC-814. In an interview with Shekhar Gupta for NDTV’s Walk theTalk programme, Advani claimed he was also not consulted and that there was no decision in the Cabinet Committee on Security on the matter. “I didn’t know about it…. I came to know when he was going… I was not happy with the decision,” claims Advani, and adds helpfully that there was no money involved in securing the release of the hostages.
At one level, the prospect of the then Union home minister, purportedly the second most important man in the country after Atal Behari Vajpayee, not being aware of what was happening in his own government is revealing. At another level, Advani’s admission places on record the divisions within the Prime Minister’s Office, despite his tearful claims of “feeling lonely” in the absence of Vajpayee at the book’s release. But above all, it punches a big hole in the BJP’s claims of its “tough stand” on terror. Little wonder, the Congress has pounced on Advani, saying: “All the good that happened can be attributed to him, and all the bad to Vajpayee.”
Questions: Is the “Loh Purush” lying? Or is he conveniently trying to divorce himself from the embarrassing issue? Is Jaswant Singh being made a scapegoat by Advani? Or is Advani’s revelation a reflection of what happens in individual-centred politics? Does Advani emerge with his halo intact? Or does he comes across as a schemer, willing to shed “collective responsibility” for a decision at the altar of “personal grandstanding”? Above all, is the BJP’s claim of being tough on terror as bogus as that of the Congress? Or does it not matter because the hostages returned safely?
L.K. Advani fools nobody with his faux contrition and fake modesty. He might look as if R.K. Laxman’s common man has walked out of the pocket cartoon into real life. But there is nothing common about Advani. Deep down, he is India’s most dangerous, divisive politician, ever so willing to dance on the bodies of innocent human beings of a religion not his own to clamber onto power. The IC-814 controversy reveals a cold, calculating, cynical mind willing to ditch his colleagues and boss so that the world takes a kinder, gentler look at him. That is the hallmark of a smooth operator, and we should Advani for revealing his true colours in black and white.
star aytu commie are back in fulll form………..what if he is lying??? how foolish are you to expect politicians speak truth??? stop this crap focus on tibet…… even chines priemier is lying when he said dalai lama is supprted by islamic fundamentalist :)
Well if he wasn’t consulted, the only decent thing he could have done was resign and keep his “street cred”…
So either he is a bare-faced liar or a weak-kneed power hungry politico. Neither qualification will look good on his PM Application…
Advani may not be lying but he is surely being economical with the truth. By dragging out a dormant issue into the open to show himself in flying colours, he shows that the “Muh mein Ram, Ram, bagal mein chaaku-churi” culture that his party expounds isn’t something his own friends and party colleagues are safe from. Kandahar is the albatross around the BJP’s neck. If Advani didn’t know or claims not to have known what was happening, it means he as the home minister wasn’t being trusted by the Vajpayee gang or that he wasn’t on talking terms with Jaswant Singh whom he is now trying to corner.
@ hesralli yenide: Do you really have to prove “what is in a name” with your shrill name-calling? If all those who question Advani and BJP are “commies”, then this must be the world’s largest communist country. If you have no problem with your leaders lying, then all we can do is to marvel at how low your expectations are, and how Advani easily meets them.
yes expectations are really low…….. if not advandi who else do i trust ??? madam sonia who did not hesitate to take shelter in italian embassy during the war time along with her husband who later went on to become the PM of our nation or the gowdas mayavathi and mulayam who have sprung up a caste based parties or the CPI s who take instructions from their masters from China?? looks like BJP is atleast better than any of these alliances…….. yes they are no saints but atleast they are no evil.
I am sorry to say Aatmasakshi our polotical class simply do not have any Aatmasakshi and if u believe they have then i am afraid you will soon be dissapointed :)
Yes. He is.
“star aytu commie are back in fulll form”
Shuru aiythu cheddigala diversion tacticsu…
@ Anonymous Guy : Atleast chaddi hakidare bereyavaru 3 bittu nintidare
when will these people fade away.
Hajvani is a psuedo-secular in the hindutva garb. He accomodated the commie henchman Sudhir Kulkarni in the BJP, he goes to Pakistan and exclaims Jinnah was secular politician, he brags that he is Sardar Patel II, while the paki terrorists are having hay day when he was the home minister. Now, his latest gimmick blame Jaswant Singh and Vajpayee for the Kandahar fiasco. He even has the gall to say that there was no money exchanged for the release of the hostage. How cluless can you be if you are the home minister and the second in command. Or may be Hajpayee did not trust him completely as we believe. Hajpayee did not inform anybody about the pokhran test of May 13,15,1998…not even to hajvani…probably this sums it up.
He seems more of a ‘Tin Man’ than a Loh Purush..
all that you think Advani is aware of this? is it?
How one should be aware? Sonia says she donot Know any thing about bofor .
every one aware bofor deal what happend to Quatrochi? the central minister went to release his funds. now commi’s always quite on tibet. do they have any moral to talk about Sri Advaniji? when it comes to Muslims they allow all bangladishi illigal imigrants. waht commis know about national security? they are spreding terror through out india bangladishi illigal imigrants.
cummis do not know that bangladishis are concern to the national security.
then How advani will be knowing Jaswanth sing went along with people to freed in exchange of 160 innocent people?
in todays political situation Sri. Advani is man of words. they may do politics but they do not compramise on national intergity like of cummis or congs.
I agree with Mayura. Hajvani and Hajpayee are total nether holes. At least Hajpayee gave good governance and an impetus to infrastructure development. Hajvani on the other hand did not run his Home Ministry properly. Instead the lame ass blamed America for not being serious about extraditing Dawood Ibrahim! What a loser!!
Atleast Advani became home minister after winning the elections and not like Shivaraj Patil who is a loser both in elections and as a home minister.
DB,
Imagine our plight if this guy becomes the PM….no development all round..keep blaming others…I am sure he will accomodate that other loser from our state Anathakumara, since he is Hajvani’s manasaputra :)
Advani has the blood of thousands on his hands. Just as the Hindu Kush Mountain ranges tell the tales of the slaughter of the Hindus of yore, Advani’s trail of blood has the cries of thousands of innocent people, all sacrificed for merely an idea! Perhaps, all this Moslem hatred has to do with what he saw during partition. But, still, there is no excuse for causing large scale slaughter. It does not matter what books he writes. I hope that he never gets what he has always wanted: The office of the PM of India.
guys, come on he is pushing 80…u cant expect him to remember everything
>>Hajvani on the other hand did not run his Home Ministry properly>>
He got promoted to Dy. PM post for non-performance.
:)
Double talk, selective amnesia…..not Vajpayee alone, even Advani , Jaswant and the whole BJP lot is infected with it.
True colors of Advani showing up: unreliable person.
Okay… so who are our alternatives? Rahul Gandhi? Sonia Gandhi? Mayavati (who apparently is the front runner for being the next PM)? True, Advani is treading a thin line here and may not be the most honest man around, but I would, unhesitatingly, prefer him to lead us than the scamsters holding ministries in the current UPA government.
I read in rediff today that Robert Blackwill has said Advani got it wrong in his book about talking to him in getting US help to resolve the hijacking crisis. Blackwill says, he was not the ambassador of India then. Robert Celeste was the ambassador. So much for proof reading of the autobiography of Sardar Patel II. Eagerly waiting to see what else comes out as lies
:)
Hello Churumuri! Congrats for being first, free and frank!
A famous English critic has declared that in an autobiography one can find just two things, one Don Quixote, the EGO and Sancho Panza, the SHADOW! More often than not the author strives to his utmost to portray his unblemished Ego, only to leave his shadow turn into a sprectre!
Writing an auto biography in times of revlutionary changes in knowledge indusrty, ‘wordsmiths’, would be at a loss for words jetting up from the pure springs of truth and honesty! The more one tries to enlarge the halo’ around his face. the end product becomes a carricature!
I, for one, deem this autobiography of LK Advani as the “resume’ of an applicant , submitted to the ‘selectors’ for the favour of consideration and final selection of the applicant for theprestigious post of PM OF INDIA!
So we are required to be very, very objective in making a proper assessment of his knowledge, experience , skills and capability to physically and mentally stand the strain and stresses of that high office, in what are going to be the most tumultous times.
His oldage,debilitating faculties, absence of the reperrtoire neede to meet the challenges of a fast changing worldand the unimaginable shocks of change!
A critical review of situtions enlisted by him to prove how holier that he has been,prima facie,build up a strong case of “suppressio verii and suggestio falsii”, which adds to the negative factors in selection.
His nonchalant retelling of situations which come under the label of “classified matters’ bound by oath of office and secrecy and issues subject to matters “sub judice”( cases pending in courts of law), preclude his becoming a minister any time in future.
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Advani has no backbone and gets instructions from abroad. Atal was a much greater person and a true Indian nationalist.
how else -say congress ,would have solved the hijak .?? By sending two aicrafts? one separate for the terrorists???
Let the radicals clear & openly deny /denounce a myth/ or truth that the suicide bombers do it to gain a assured place for all their families in Paradise with forever luxuries , flowing wine , 72 virgins for each etc as given in the holy book chapter 55. let there be an open debate on this
We should first remember before commenting that Both Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee & Mr. L K Advani are freedom fighters before being great politicians. While Atalji did not marry because he did not want a widow if he is hanged etc. L K Advani lost his family members. Today’s politicians are coming with crime records, corrupt and what not. If a person like Advani becomes Prime Minister a message will go to the politicians & public that even gentle men like Advani & Vajpayee can become prime minister. It’s in the India’s own interest that Mr. Advani becomes Prime Minister Or else we will have people like Afzal guru going scott free. In todays politics he is rare kind of politician available. We should not forget that if Mr. Vajpayee ran the Govt. it was with help of Mr. Advani only. He was the man who brought BJP that ruled India & completed 5 yeras rule other than Congress.
RK Pandey Saab!
Unfortunately OddVani has lost it completely!. Please see my earlier posts on this portal.
Vajpayee in the Feedom Struggle, I wonder which one- well the stories one hears seem to tell something totally different!:)
consider the following points
Who else is better than Advani for the PM post?
Rahul – with no experience in politics, no knowledge of indian history, no proven skills in handling and motivating people?
mulayam- no respect for fellow hindus?
Gowda- chameleon, public sleeper, no connection between his mind and actions
Cummis- pro chinese policy people?
Mayawati – she couldnot manage a state govt, i doubt if she has the right team to manage india?
MMS- fit to be professor, doesnot seem like we have a PM.
Cant speak properly. Cant take tough decisions. false promises in representing facts connected to nuclear fuel
Sonia- even though good basically italian, shame on us to elect her
The only alternative i feel is BJP.
I didn’t get the one on Advani and massacres as claimed by PK and Aatmasakshi. I’m sure their kind of stupidity is not a habit but an exception.
AG talks about diversionary tactics….much better than liberal equivalence I say.
What more can we expect from a typical Indian politician,Adwani is not an exception.