Hoping to gain political mileage and promote its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani, the BJP launched a website on his book My Country My Life on Sunday.
NEW DELHI: Hoping to gain political mileage and promote its prime ministerial candidate LK Advani, the BJP launched a website on his book My Country My Life on Sunday.
The book and its author have generated much interest, but it is the rivals who seem to be making the most of it. The party could well have done without the attention as “day after day, people keep pointing out factual errors (in the autobiography) and it becomes embarrassing”, said a BJP worker.
“Sangh workers are not happy. They are beginning to get the impression that every page (of the book) is creating unnecessary controversy,” an RSS worker said, recalling the statements of former US ambassador Robert Blackwill and the gaffe about communist veteran Satyapal Dang.
Advani wrote he spoke to Blackwill during the Kandahar hostage crisis, whereas Blackwill was in Harvard at the time. As for Dang, Advani’s book mentions him as “late”, drawing a response from the communist leader who said he was very much alive.
Dang said the BJP leader, who is the party’s prime ministerial candidate, should check facts before writing. He said it would be most unfortunate if Advani became the prime minister. Advani apologised to Dang on Saturday.
Even NDA convenor George Fernandes has contradicted Advani’s claim that he did not know of the decision to send then foreign minister Jaswant Singh to Kandahar with the three terrorists who were to be exchanged for the Indian Airlines hostages. He said the decision was taken in consultation with senior ministers and “all ministers were present” at the meeting.
Others have pointed to the error he made about Bhagat Singh. Advani wrote Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sent to the gallows for hurling a bomb at the Delhi assembly. But in fact the martyrs were executed in the Lahore Conspiracy Case.
Advani also came in for flak from former Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh, who is reported to have said that most of the facts related to Punjab were distorted or wrong.
He said Advani had mentioned Buta Singh, as Union home minister, removed the name of Sant Jarnial Singh Bhindranwale from the Nirankari murder case charge-sheet. For one, Bhindranwale was never on the list of accused persons, and secondly, P Sethi, the then home minister, had passed the challans.
He said either Advani was not aware of the facts about Punjab or the mistakes were made intentionally to gain political benefits.
Admitting the disappointment in the BJP and the damage to the credibility of the party and Advani himself that the book has caused, a party MP blamed the leader's advisors who had helped him author the book.
"It has made it difficult to give a proper answer to your questions," he said.
It has also not drawn much appreciation from commentators and reviewers, who say Advani has not said much of consequence in the book and omitted many facts and details of consequence.
Advani also could not help revealing his resentment over the influence of the then prime minister's principal secretary Brajesh Mishra.
Intended to gain centre stage in the public eye and project Advani's personality and leadership, his vision, contribution and achievements, at a time when elections were getting close, it is a PR exercise gone awry.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net
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