Benched by the Bharatiya Janata Party High Command, former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP’s veteran leader L. K Advani said that the guiding principle of his life has always been “Nation first, party next, self last.” Writing about the BJP’s core values, he said that the saffron party has never regarded others with different views as “enemies or anti-national.”
Ahead of the BJP’s foundation day, Advani in a blogpost said: “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.”
Advani, has been replaced by BJP Chief Amit Shah as Gandhinagar Lok Sabha candidate. Except for in 1996, the Gandhinagar seat was won by Advani six times ever since 1991. Interestingly, Advani stressed on the need for “Defence of democracy and democratic traditions, both within the party and in the larger national setting” and said that “it has been the proud hallmark of the BJP.”
Commenting on the electoral reforms and elections, he said: “Electoral reforms, with a 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,” adding that “elections were also an occasion for honest introspection by all stakeholders in democracy – political parties, media, authorities conducting the election process and the electorate.”
In his blog, however, Advani did not criticise Modi-Shah duo but was subtly indicative of the direction India is taking under the Modi government. Moreover, the first person to react to Advani’s blogpost was none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted: “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.”
Looks like the RSS has got both Modi and Advani to arrive at a consensus for the greater good of the party!
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