"My Country My Life" - The Memoirs of Lal Krishna Advani

I know it’s been a long time since I came to Kanpur, although I had been desiring to come for a long time.

When two persons, after waiting to meet for a long time, finally do so, one can be certain that the meeting becomes memorable.

And so is it with my coming to Kanpur. This rally has certainly turned out to be a memorable one in my life.

This is also because Kanpur occupies a very special place in my political life. In a way, I can describe today’s rally as “Kanpur se Kanpur se Kanpur tak”.

Many of you might have read in today’s Dainik Jagran an excerpt from my recently published autobiography, Mera Desh Mera Jeevan, which is indeed going to be released in Hindi in Bhopal on the 30th.

The excerpt that the newspaper has carried is from a chapter titled ‘Kanpur se Kanpur tak’.

It describes my first visit to Kanpur way back in December 1952, when I came as a delegate from Rajasthan to attend the second session of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was presided over by Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of our party. Atalji, Nanaji Deshmukh and others were also present. It was here that Dr. Mookerjee made Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya the party’s all-India General Secretary. Indeed, he was so impressed with his trusted lieutenant that he remarked, ‘If I can get two or three more Deendayals, I will change the entire political map of India.’

Little did I imagine then that, twenty years later in February 1973, I would be called upon to take up the responsibility of party President from Atalji at the national council session of the Jana Sangh held here in Kanpur. There is an interesting story about how Atalji insisted on my becoming his successor and I, who was reluctant to do so, finally had to assume the responsibility.

Thus, I can say that it was Kanpur that catapulted me into national politics. The period of thirty-five years since then has been full of challenges and achievements for my party – first as the Jana Sangh until 1977 and, from 1980, as the Bharatiya Janata Party. I am proud of my party’s achievements, and have made my own humble contribution to them.

The greatest achievement of the BJP has been that we have ended the one-party monopoly of the Congress and transformed Indian politics into an essentially bi-polar system, with the BJP as the principal as well the principled pole of Indian democracy. However, about this, I shall speak more later.

During this period, I have of course come to Kanpur many times. Nevertheless, today’s rally is a significant enough milestone in my political life for me to place this visit alongside the other two milestones in 1952 and 1973. Which is why, I would like to describe it as ‘Kanpur se Kanpur se Kanpur tak’.

The reason for this is obvious to those who know what is happening in Delhi these days. The Congress-led UPA government is wobbling, and it is on the brink of collapse. As a matter of fact, the government has ceased to function since August 2007 when the Congress and the Communists, whose support is critical for the survival of this government, came aamne-saamne on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

After remaining sick and bed-ridden for nearly a year, UPA sarkar ki ab ICU mein bharti ho gayi hai.

Congress koshish kar rahi hai ki Uttar Pradesh ki ek party ka samarthan prapt karke ICU mein se bahar aaye.

I do not know how things will turn out in the weeks to come. But one thing is certain. The UPA government has lost all moral and even political legitimacy to remain in office. Its record in the past four years has been full of failures and betrayals.

The Congress sought votes in the 2004 parliamentary in the name of the aam aadmi. And the aam aadmi did ensure the victory of Congress candidates in many constituencies, including in Kanpur, although it must be borne in mind that the Congress won only 145 seats in the Lok Sabha, just seven more than that of the BJP.

But the ‘Hand’ that the common man voted for has turned out to be a hand of betrayal. Congress ka Haath, Aam Aadmi ke saath vishwasghaat.

The Congress rule has punished the common man with unprecedented price rise. The official inflation rate has been rising week after week and has now crossed 11 per cent. For the common man, this translates into a larger hole in his family budget. Rice, dal, cooking oil, milk, sugar, vegetables, transportation, electricity, medical care, children’s education – everything has become costlier and unaffordable.

More and more Indian families, including middle-class Indian families, have been forced to eat less. Many have replaced normal food items with those that are cheaper but of inferior quality.

Recently, the government raised the prices of not only petrol and diesel but also of cooking gas. There are reports that it is going to restrict the number of new cooking gas connections. During the NDA rule, gas connections became available on demand. Now, I am told, it is back to old times. Actually, this fits a pattern. Whenever the Congress has ruled, it has brought in a regime of scarcities, waiting lists, black market and bribery.

Not only have prices gone up, but even interest rates also have sharply risen. During the six years of Vajpayee government, interest rates had come down to less than 10 per cent. As a result of this, and also because of certain conscious policy decisions by the NDA government to promote the housing sector, lakhs of middle-class families could afford to take housing loans. Never had India witnessed such housing boom before. Construction industry created a large number of jobs. Cement, steel and other industries also received a big boost. Most importantly, more and more middle-class Indians began to realize their dream of having a little house of their own.

But the people who took loans then are forced to pay a higher monthly installment.

The same is true about parents who took education loans to ensure better education for their children.

Indeed, people of India have seen that whenever the Congress has come to power, it has ushered in price rise. Congress aayi, Mahangaayi laayi.

The consumer is paying more and more for food items, but this does not mean that the kisan is earning more.

For example, the BJP had demanded Rs. 1000 per quintal as the minimum support price for paddy. I had myself written a letter to the Prime Minister in this regard.

But, earlier this month, the government has decided on an MSP of only Rs. 850 per quintal.
Recently, some banks decided not to advance loans to farmers to buy tractor and farm equipment. It is only after our party president Shri Rajnath Singhji issued a strong statement warning of nationwide protest action did the government ask the banks to resume such loans to farmers with immediate effect.
Indian farmer today finds himself in a dushchakra (vicious cycle) : Rising input costs, scarcity of key inputs like power and fertilizer, costly and difficult-to-get institutional credit, and volatile output prices. This is making more and more farmers debt-ridden. In extreme cases, farmers are committing suicide, and their number is not insignificant.
Another big section of our economy and society is constituted by those who find their livelihoods in the unorganised sector, which provides employment to nearly 40 crore people. What is their condition? A commission appointed by the UPA government itself – it was called the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector under the chairmanship of Dr. Nitish Sengupta, an eminent economist – has stated that nearly 80 per cent of the workers in the unorganized sector have an income of less than Rs. 20 a day.
Friends, whereas this government has betrayed the trust of the common man, the kisan, the unemployed youth, the middleclass householder and those in the unorganized sector, it has at the same time served as the patron of the super-rich. Shri Bimal Jalan, a former RBI governor and now a member of the Rajya Sabha, has recently stated that the earnings of 20 crore richest Indians is more than those of 30 crore poorest Indians.

The rich-poor divide, the urban-rural divide has never been as wide in India as has become in the UPA rule.

The Vajpayee government had unveiled an ambitious programme to lay a network of world-class highways. We had also started an equally ambitious project to connect all the villages in India with pucca roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Both projects are languishing under the UPA government.

Friends, the people’s woes are mounting. But those in power in New Delhi have no time, and no mental inclination, to attend to people’s problems.

They have no time, and no mental inclination, to take firm steps to tackle terrorism and naxalism.

Recently, Jaipur witnessed serial bomb blasts that killed nearly seventy innocent people. Dozens of such terrorist attacks have taken place in the past four years – in Mumbai, in Hyderbad, in Malegaon in Maharashtra, in Bangalore, in the Samjhauta Express train in Haryana, in Ayodhya and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh …

Has the government succeeded in completing the investigation in a single case of terrorism in the past four years? Has it succeeded in getting the courts to award punishment to the guilty in a single case?

Far from taking tough measures against terrorism, the first thing the UPA government did on assuming office was to repeal POTA.

By doing so, the Congress-led government issued a clear message to terrorists and their patrons abroad: You have nothing to fear.

A good government is one in which the people are safe and terrorists have fear. It is exactly the opposite under the UPA rule: the terrorists are fearless and the people are fearful.

Why is the government soft on terrorists? Because it looks at every issue through the lens of vote-bank considerations.

Terrorists have no religion. They are anti-national. And they must be treated as such without bringing in notions of majority and minority community.

Those who indulge in terrorist activities in the name of jihad are not true representatives of the religion they profess.

I am happy that in recent months many Muslim organizations have issued declarations condemning terrorism.

In fact, we have seen in neighbouring Pakistan how jihadi terrorism has targeted Muslims themselves. Benazir Bhutto became a victim of this murderous campaign.

People and governments around the world have to join hands to fight the menace of terrorism. But when the government in India is unwilling to fight terrorism in our own country, how can we create a public opinion in our favour globally?

Friends, I have to mention another important issue concerning our national security, and it has to do with the issue that has currently paralysed the UPA government – namely, the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The BJP is opposing this deal not for the sake of opposing it, not simply because we are in the opposition. We have always been a constructive opposition party, we have always kept the nation’s interests above the interests of our party.

Otherwise, would we have supported Indira Gandhi when she conducted Pokharan I nuclear test in 1974?

Otherwise, would have praised Indira Gandhi for her role in the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh?

In contrast, it is the Congress that has shown narrow-mindedness. When Vajpayeeji ordered Pokharan II in 1998, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was then the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, criticized it severely.

The BJP is opposed to the Indo-US nuclear deal not because the credit for it would go to the Congress, much less because we do not want India to develop nuclear power.

If the nuclear deal, in its present form, were really in the best interest of the nation, I as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha would have told the PM: “Don’t worry, Dr. Manmohan Singhji, my party will support you even if the Left wants to withdraw support to your government simply because you are entering into a deal with America.” I would have said so to the PM and ensured that the deal went through.

But I will not do that, because I am convinced that the deal, in its present form, is detrimental to India’s long term interests. In the name of illusory energy security, it will undermine India’s national security.

This is because, by signing this deal, India will have given a written undertaking to America that it would not conduct any more nuclear tests – in other words, no Pokharan III even if it were required for the further development of our independent nuclear capability.

This is what is called non-proliferation. For the past nearly 40 years, America and other big powers have tried to get India sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Every single Prime Minister, from Indira Gandhi to Vajpayee, refused to sign it because they were convinced that it was discriminatory. It was meant to put restrictions on India, even though the five nuclear weapon states – USA, Russia, UK, France and China – were unwilling to accept similar restrictions on themselves.

The same is true about the Indo-US nuclear deal. It mentions that if India conducts Pokharan III, America would be free to take back the fuel and reactors sold to India.

Friends, India must never accept such unequal and discriminatory provisions. It is a question of our Suraksha. It is a question of our Rashtriya Swabhiman. And the BJP will never compromise on India’s Suraksha and Swabhiman.

Which is why, we have said that the BJP also wants a nuclear deal, but on renegotiated terms.

It is my charge against the Congress that it is not displaying courage and strength to seek better terms for India. It is meekly submitting to whatever is offered by the American government.

According to reports, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is worried that he cannot go “empty-handed” to meet George Bush at the G-8 summit in Japan next month.

A strong PM would have told Bush, “The consensus in India is for renegotiation. We are a democracy. We cannot ignore democratic opinion in India, just as you cannot ignore democratic opinion in India. Therefore, let us get back to the negotiating table to evolve an agreement that is mutually acceptable.”

I for one would have told this to George Bush.
I would have also told Bush and other leaders of G 8, which comprises USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, and invites five other countries -- India, China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa as guests: “Change your group’s name from G 8 to G 13 by making India and other major countries full-fledged members. A country as large as India, accounting for one-sixth of the world population cannot be a guest at your party. The world’s problems cannot be discussed and decided without India’s full participation. Which is why, India deserves a permanent seat on the UN Security Council with the same powers as the present P-5.”
When I met Bush and his colleagues during my visits the United States in 2001 and 2002, I did a lot of plain speaking on the question of terrorism.
The world recognises and respects India when its leaders speak with strength and self-confidence. It does not respect India when it is led by weak leadership.
India is not a weak country anymore. India’s strength is growing steadily, and the world has come to recognize India as a superpower in the making.

Sadly, the top leaders of the Congress and the UPA government have no faith in India’s strength. Which is why, they have chosen to accept an unequal deal with America.

UPA govt has lost legitimacy to govern

My question to the people who have assembled in this rally is:

Do you accept a situation in which a weak and insensitive government has mismanaged the economy, neglected the plight of farmers and the poor in the unorganized sector, sent the prices of essential commodities and services soaring, and made the lives of common people unbearable?

Do you accept a situation in which a weak government with weak leadership has become soft towards terrorism?

Do you accept a situation in which the ruling set-up presents an ugly picture of constant in-fighting?

If it is not acceptable to you, should not those who are responsible for this situation be made accountable?

And the only way to make the Congress accountable is for the people to teach a proper lesson to it in the next parliamentary elections.

The question naturally arises: If the UPA is to be voted out of power, who is to be voted in?

Only a party or an alliance that can form a stable and cohesive government, has strong leadership, a positive agenda and a sound track record in “Good Governance, Development and Security”.

I mentioned earlier that the political system in India at the national level has essentially become bi-polar – with the BJP and the Congress as two opposite poles. There is no third pole, and there is no scope for a third front.

Whenever the so-called “Third Front” governments were formed – such as the two United Front governments led by Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral – they lacked legitimacy and stability. India suffered because of instability at the Centre.

In recent times, in state after state, people have tended to give a clear mandate to that party which has the best chance of forming a stable government.

If the people in UP voted for one party because they perceived that particular party to be the front-runner capable of delivering liberation from the previous government, the same sound logic should guide the voters in UP when they vote for change in the next Lok Sabha elections.

In 1998 and 1999, UP made a major contribution to the BJP’s success. It is because of UP that the BJP found its way to New Delhi.

I appeal to the people of UP to again help the BJP form a stable government in New Delhi.

Aur jab Uttar Pradesh is prashna ka uttar dega, to desh ke kayi anya prashnon ke uttar bhi mil jayenge. Kyon ki paanch saal tak ek sthir, majboot aur imaandaar sarkar chala kar Bhajapa mehangayi, berozgari, vikas, khadya suraksha, oorja suraksha, antarik suraksha, desh ki suraksha se jude anek chunautiyo ka saamna kar paayegi.
I would like to mention one more important thing here. The people of UP voted for a BSP government in the assembly election last year. We have respected the people’s verdict. This government will remain in office for the next four years, and I wish it all the success.

What I would like to assure the people of UP is that, if the BJP-led NDA gets a mandate at the Centre, our government would do everything possible to meet the needs of the state.

We would do so for two reasons. Firstly, when we were in office in New Delhi, we treated all state governments equally. We never discriminated against states ruled by non-BJP parties.

Secondly, I believe that UP, with a population of nearly 18 crore, is too important to be ignored. Indeed, it must receive the highest attention from any government at the Centre. India cannot achieve rapid and balanced progress if UP lags behind.

I know that UP’s progress is inconceivable without paying attention to the problems faced by Kanpur. It is distressing to know that the textile industry, for which Kanpur was once nationally and internationally famous, continues to remain in doldrums. We shall take urgent steps to revive NTC’s closed mills in the city.

I am told that the city is unable to attract investments because of chronic power shortage. This also raises the cost of production of existing industries. Our government will work closely with the state government to overcome the power shortage in Kanpur and the rest of the state.

A third area where urgent attention is needed is education. UP was once known for the high standard of its educational institutions. That glory must be regained because education is the key to success in today’s knowledge-driven economy. The talented young boys and girls in UP must have adequate opportunities for high-quality education in diverse fields within the state itself, instead of having to explore such opportunities in other states.

I must also mention that the degradation of infrastructure and urban amenities in cities like Kanpur in UP is a matter of serious concern. If Delhi, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore can witness urban renewal, why not Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad and Gorakhpur?

It should be clear from the above that the BJP has a Development-oriented vision, which it is determined to realized through Good Governance.

Just as the BJP remains committed to build the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, we are equally committed to build a Rashtra Mandir dedicated to Mother India. We want to contribute to creating an India of Tomorrow in which all the children of Mother India will live a life of prosperity, peace, justice and brotherhood.

The rally in Kanpur is the beginning of my mass contact programme in UP. I will return to UP soon and visit many other places with the same message.

It is appropriate that my programme in UP has begun from Kanpur, which is the nerve centre of the state. Close to Kanpur is the pilgrimage centre of Bithoor. It is believed that the Brahmavart Ghat in Bithoor is the place around which the universe – Brahmanda – rotates. During the 1857 War of Independence, many of the heroes came here to seek blessings, and also found shelter. Among them were Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, Nana Sahib Peshve and Tantya Tope.

I salute the memory of all the heroes and martyrs of that great uprising. I salute the memory of Chandrashekhar Azad and others, whose karmabhoomi was Kanpur.

And I seek the blessings of Lord Shiv of Bithoor as I embark on my political mission for the next parliamentary elections.

Before I conclude, I wish to express my condolences over the demise of Shri Ramprakash Tripathi, one our senior party colleagues in this part of UP.

Dear Citizens of Kanpur,