The Man is the Message

If the purpose of all religions in this world is the betterment of mankind, why then are some religions considered better than others? If the purpose of a political party is the betterment of the people they seek to serve, why is then the BJP proclaimed to be better than others? The answer, my friends, is not blowing in the wind. Therefore, here comes a New Testament of Indian Politics, a 986-page tome of self-tract by LK Advani, titled My Country My Life, where one can find answers to the most obtuse questions that riddle the Indian politics.

To a fantastically impressionistic mind, the book is an invocation to the ‘assimilative' Hindu soul of India. The only problem is that the book -- like Hitler's -- dresses up reductionist stratagems to view India in its belligerently nationalist prism as respectable projects. The rider is this book runs the risk of teasing out the chauvinistic/communal angst of a reader instead of mitigating it.

Advani's autobiography reads well, despite the glaring goof-ups. There is a flatness and linearity in narration that makes even a hare-brained reader feel comfortable. And for the most of his life, it has been so impeccably lived that you won't find a single blot or blemish save some minor distractions like the demolition of the Babri masjid, the Kandahar hijacking or the Gujarat carnage -- post Godhra killings. The book is an exercise in breathtaking self-deification mixed with dollops of naivety and righteous self-mortification (in cases of policy failures, in addressing the issues more expedient to the people). There is a -like halo hanging about the book; it gives the impression that this man or his party can do no wrong. As a result, runs riot and myth pervades history.

Advani has categorised his life in five broad phases. From 1927 to 1947, his life in Sindh - mainly in Karachi - constitutes the first phase. From 1947 to 1957, he worked in Rajasthan as an RSS

and activist in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. From 1957 to 1977, he worked as a political aide to Vajpayee (who had been elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time) shifting base from Rajasthan to Delhi at the instance of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, the main ideologue, guide and organiser of the Jana Sangh. From 1977 to 1997, he served greater organisational responsibilities in the hurly-burly of Indian politics. From 1997 to 2007, he had a major role in the governance of the nation (that includes his infamous ‘Jinnah' visit to Pakistan in 2005 following which he was ‘purged' from the BJP chief's post vis-à-vis a cold-blooded assault by top leaders of the RSS and BJP.)

It is instructive to see how Advani takes the usual diatribes against his party to task. Is the growth of ‘Hindu nationalism' a potential threat to the future of democracy, Indian secularism and the constitutional protection of India's minorities? Isn't the party that promised to put an end to corruption and create a value-based system itself a victim of the pathogens of caste politics and factionalism?

Such allegations are taken up to be smashed when Advani rambles on themes such as pseudo secularism, minorityism, cultural nationalism etc. He writes with passion and candour but one suspects that he lacks the sophistication to understand the merits of the more nuanced aspects of the role of religion in public life. Sometimes he suffers from selective amnesia.