He was very close to Modi in his Rath Yatra days and had been a part of many interesting turns in his life. That love between the two leaders was lost when party president Rajnath Singh …
Senior leader Lal Krishna Advani is all praises for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the spectacular debut that he managed to get for the Bhartiya Janata Party. For this “triple-century” debut — leading the NDA to 300-plus seats — the veteran leader told his party’s first-time MPs to ensure the BJP’s return to power in 2019.
In the orientation workshop organised by his party for the first-time MPs in Surajkund, Advani delivered his valedictorian address and likened Modi to a cricketer. “In test cricket we have heard of players who score a century or a double century on their debut. But I do not know of any batsman who becomes a captain in the very first test he plays and scores a triple century,” he said.
Advani, who charted BJP’s growth and has been a part of its history, always played second fiddle to the statesman Atal Behari Vajpayee. Advani wanted to become PM but the loss of party in 2004 general elections led to doubts about party’s future under his leadership.
He was very close to Modi in his Rath Yatra days and had been a part of many interesting turns in his life. That love between the two leaders was lost when party president Rajnath Singh wanted Modi to be anointed as Prime Ministerial candidate of the party.
After his open disapproval of Modi, which led to latter’s anointment in his absence, this is the second biggest disagreement between him and his party members. Advani was reportedly fearing a possible sabotage on his electoral prospects and so, he was against contesting from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar. His proximity with Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is well known and that is being considered the reason behind his interest in Bhopal seat.
Although Advani had praised Modi publicly and heavily too twice or thrice when the latter was finally anointed, but that was seen as an act of last resort. The concurring discords of Advani with the party since Modi’s ascendance had given whiff to the rumours of latter was dividing the party. But all the rumours were put to rest when Modi led the part to a big victory and it seems that victory has washed away all the problems.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, NDA bagged 336 seats while BJP on its own won a record 283 seats.
“Ever since we lost the election in 2004, my dream was to see that the BJP comes to power again. Narendra Modi has made this dream come true. I congratulate him for this,” Advani said.
The veteran leader also credited RSS workers for the party’s triumph. “A huge army of hundreds of thousands of dedicated karyakartas, both of BJP and RSS, strived with single-minded determination for this victory.”
Advani advised the party MPs that “you should work towards becoming second-time MPs in order to bring BJP to power again in 2019”. “From day one, the entire party should recognise that the BJP should be in office at least for the next ten years.”
The BJP veteran told MPs to individually realise Modi’s dream of making development a people’s movement.
“In the traditional way of governance, there has been a disconnect between the government machinery and the people in addressing all such development challenges. Which is why we are not getting the desired results even though the government spends considerable resources on each of these various issues. Therefore, Narendraji is right in insisting that development should become a people’s Movement,” Advani said.
Advani suggested that the Prime Minister should appeal to the people to strive to improve India’s ranking on the Human Development Index from the current 134 to 50 by the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence in 2022.
With this, the love has come a full circle. Good days for Advani too.
