New Delhi: BJP veteran LK Advani (92), sent into forced retirement by the ruling BJP dispensation, finally overcame his inhibitions and penned a blog wherein he has urged his party to “look back, look ahead and look within” and underscored the need for “internal democracy and democratic traditions.”
This is seen as an indirect attack on Prime Minister Modi and his team by Advani, who was denied the ticket for re-election from Gandhinagar recently, a seat he had won six times since 1991. Advani has also decried the tendency to dub political adversaries as “anti-national,” departing from party values.
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‘‘The essence of Indian democracy is respect for diversity and freedom of expression. Right from its inception, the BJP has never regarded those who disagree with us politically as our ‘enemies,’ but only as our adversaries. Similarly, in our conception of Indian nationalism, we have never regarded those who disagree with us politically as ‘anti-national.’ The party has been committed to freedom of choice of every citizen at personal as well as political level.
“Defence of democracy and democratic traditions, both within the party and in the larger national setting, has been the proud hallmark of the BJP. Therefore, BJP has always been in the forefront of demanding protection of independence, integrity, fairness and robustness of all our democratic institutions, including the media.
Electoral reforms, with special focus on transparency in political and electoral funding, which is so essential for a corruption-free polity, has been another priority for our party,” Advani underlined. He has written not a word on Prime Minister Modi but his apparent attack is on the policies pursued by him in the last five years since coming to power.
In the blog titled “Nation First, Party Next, Self Last,’ he prefaced his remarks saying “as one of the founders of the BJP, I deem it to be my duty to share my reflections with the people of India, and more specifically with the millions of workers of my party, both of whom have indebted me with their affection and respect.
TRUE ESSENCE OF BJP: MODI
Hours after BJP veteran LK Advani posted his blog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted and said that the leader’s views “perfectly sums up the true essence of BJP.” He added that he was proud to have been associated with great leaders like Advani. “Advani Ji perfectly sums up the true essence of BJP, most notably the guiding Mantra of ‘Nation First, Party Next, Self Last.’ Proud to be a BJP Karyakarta and proud that greats like LK Advani Ji have strengthened it,” he wrote.
