BJP is crumbling under the attack from its own dissenting missiles. But the developments cannot be ignored as an internal matter of the party. There are some developments, particularly relating to L K Advani, that require a serious debate on grounds of morality in public life.
Vote for cash might be Advani’s strategy to project Congress in a poor show. But the way he has washed his hands off the Kandhar issue is certainly a serious matter. What is more is his stoic silence despite repeated exposure.
How should our conduct be as a public leader or a person upholding public view? People certainly expect us to be mature enough to take the right decisions and have courage enough to accept our flaws and follies. Without that, a person cannot claim to be a leader, leave aside projecting himself as PM in waiting.
One after another, senior BJP leaders have come out with statements that Advani was a party to the decision to send Jaswant Singh to Kandahar for the release of Indian hostages in exchange of terrorists. In debates during Lok Sabha elections, BJP leaders have repeatedly claimed that the decision to release terrorists was in the interest of Indian hostages and defended it fully.
In such a situation, what does Advani’s stand show? What does he want to project? By pleading unawareness, he probably wants to show that as Loh Purush, he would not have allowed it to happen. There can’t be a more ridiculous dichotomy than this. Your party defends a decision through its bandwagon, but you turn your back on it!
He loves himself to be called Chhote Sardar. I am sure Sardar Patel would have stood by his action whether he had agreed to the release of terrorists this way or wiped them out and secured the release of Indian hostages.
As a citizen of the country, as a man in public life, and as a member of the Congress party, I strongly believe that a man who aspired to lead the country as Prime Minister should have the moral honesty to admit that yes, I told a lie. I think that the country that was flooded by the high-pitched media hype of Advani, the next PM, has a right to seek an apology from him for playing with their trust in him and in his claims.
No doubt that the election results have indicated that the people of India neither have faith in him nor in his party, the BJP. Otherwise, the party would not have met such a humiliating fate in the Lok Sabha elections this year. Still, I feel the country needs a public apology from Advani for his lie and his insult of Sardar, since he projected himself as Sardar all through this time