I wholly agree with the author, Advani couldnt do a greater disservice to the Hindu movement than this, at a time when some kind of Hindu consolidation was beginning to take place, this kind of remarks, that too from a top leaders will definately do harm to our community,but i feel Advani had become emotional, the pakistan which was his enemy till now and the welcome he got from Pakistan and things like that a la stockholm syndrome kinda effect might have worked i feel, Even otherwise we Hindus have proved time and again that we are ready for all kinds of compromises with the enemy, instead of facing the enemy face on we would rather ally with them, so long as we are like this then the day is not far when our genesis will be wiped out of the face of the earth reinforcing Darwins "Survival of the Fittest" theory
I agree with Mr Raman that the statement made by Mr Advani on Jinnah was indeed annoying. While it is true that Mr Advani is on a goodwill mission to Pakistan, he must have held our country's esteem high and used the opportunity, as rightly said by Mr Raman, to highlight the failures of the Pakistani establishment on various counts. Jinnah, privately, may have been a "secular" man but he was a vicious politician who tried to divide society on religious lines, not so much because he cared for his religion but only for his own vested interest. Therefore, while wanting a peaceful relationship with Pakistan is welcome, the way to do it is certainly not by pleasing Pakistan, as Mr Advani seems to have done.
I fully agree with the sentiments expressed by Mr Raman. Perhaps, it only goes to show how most Hindus get mellowed with kind words and become forgivers. This is where the real problem lies.
One single speech-or a few lines can never be used as a earmark of secularism for a particular person. Even our own national icons who have preached secularism over years of speech have not been able to practise it in real life.
Mr.Raman's conjecture on whether the Pakistani ISI plotted this "entrapment" of Advani is indefensible. Among Indian politicians, Advani is the most thoughtful and his utterances are always measured - a sign of careful preparation.The BJP has realised that it has to strike out as a modern conservative political party with broad as opposed to a narrow political appeal. In this endeavour, the BJP has succeeded in the economic front. The NDA's economic performance was excellent. The present UPA dispensation is finding it difficult to revert to the old "tax and spend" credo of heyday socialism.It is in social and political spheres that the BJP has to reorient its policies. It succeeded in putting the brakes on the avid minority appeasement policies of the Congress through its promotion of Hindu causes in the 1990s. However, this strategy has run its course. Besides minorities, intermediate Hindu castes who have been mobilized by Mulayam, Lallu Yadav and Matawati need to be brought into the BJP fold while Muslims have to be rendered non hostile. Advani's strategy is to support the peace process with Pakistan and China and to coopt the middle castes into the BJP's social base.
Yes i totally agree with u how a leader of such calibre and status give such irresponsible statements. Again General mushharaff is successfull in what he wants. These statements by advani really create confusion in mind of hindus and severly hurt the hindutva movement led by the BJP. I am not able to understand that how such sincere, senior and big leders fell to the trap laid by The ISI or pak whatever these people should be shamefull for their behaviour. When u r in a position of a party president u should take care of all the aspects of such statements what these should have effect on common man thinking A lot of shame for these leaders really he had hurt a lot of people
You seems to come out of Congress press conference. Go back to library and check the history. You may find some classic flip flops by Congress that betrayed Jinnah's belief on Mahatma Gandhi... (Till some point of time Jinnah was believing Mahatma). If you still refer Congress textbooks about Jinnah you will go nowhere. Moreover when Murali Manohar Joshi was trying to correct things you people call those historians as saffron stoogs and call whole process as saffronisation. Now what is happening is "greenisation". What ever Advani did will definitely triger true ideological and intellectual battle that not necessarily give vote banks to BJP, but will help Indians come closer to Pakistan for peace. It is for you to challenge the ideology or get away from making so called "why at all you had to do that?" remarks. My point is to tell you to look at larger perspective instead of going and looking for small pawns like Modis and Togadias and lalus and Paswaans whose influence on public is far lesser than what it was some time before.
Hi, This is a very good article which I feel is 100% true.Advani not only let his party to shame,but all Indians. All these days he seem to have acted with a mask,betraying people to get in to power. He should not only resign as BJP leader,need to apologise to the entire nation.
I would like to congragulate Mr Raman for giving a clear picture regarding Advani's visit to Pakistan.There is no doubt that Pakistani leaders are trying to appease the hardline BJP leaders to achieve J&K which they failed to achieve through direct as well as Proxy Wars.I found in many leading dailies that Indian muslims as well as some hindus are praising Advani for his comment.I would like my Indian brothers to visit the official website of Pakistan to know the true colour of Pakistani governmentbefore praising Advani.I request my brothers to read the history of india before making such irresponsible statements in the name of peace.It is true that we want to make peace with pakistan.But we should never forget our history and the feelings of many indians as well as pakistanis(not only hindus but also muslims) who hate Jinnah and accuse him for the bloody riots during partition.If we does that,then the coming genearations of this great sub continent will never forgive us.
