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YATRA
A procession. A
journey. A pilgrimage. A word that symbolises an ancient Indian tradition
that has evolved over the millennia. A tradition that
is at once universal as well as deeply rooted in that which is exclusively
Bharatiya.
A tradition that
bridges the gap between the ancient and the modern, the past and the present.
A tradition that
is both inclusivist and participatory. A tradition held sacred for precisely
these reasons.
In 1990, WHEN
the nation faced one of the most severe crises in recent times with casteist
forces threatening to tear asunder our social fabric on one hand and competitive
communalism of the pseudo-secularists leading to the creation of fresh
fissures on the other. Shri L. K. Advani stepped forward to lead the counter-offensive.
He used the unique symbol of Sri Ram, the unequalled symbol of our oneness,
or our integration, to unleash both our suppressed nationalist fervour
as well as our aspiration to live the higher values.
For the first
time an ancient tradition became the vehicle to mobilise public opinion.
Shri Advani embarked upon his now famous Ram Rath Yatra -- while others
were busy manipulating the levers of power in Delhi by taking recourse
to religion and caste, the Bharatiya Janata Party took its message to
the people who are the final arbiters in a democracy. At one level, the
yatra was a political 'procession', at another level it was a journey
in search of the heart of India, a journey that was to span the land lying
between shining shores and rising to the heights of the majestic Himalayas.
At a third level, it was a pilgrimage whose end goal was a rashtra mandir
built not of bricks and mortar but patriotic fervour and nationalist zeal.
And thus was forged
a powerful weapon to mould public opinion, to awaken latent nationalism,
to rekindle faith in the cultural unity of this vast land of ours.
As the nation
marks the golden jubilee of its independence from foreign rule, Shri Advani
has decided to embark upon another yatra. This will be a celebratory procession
that will traverse the entire length and breadth of the nation. But this
will also be a journey with a noble purpose -- to rekindle the dimming
flame of patriotism, to reweave the shattered dreams that Indians dreamt
on August 15, 1947. More importantly, it will be a pilgrimage to pay homage
to those who have laid down their lives at the altar of nationalism.
This is the fifth
yatra undertaken by the BJP during the last eight years. As the Swarna
Jayanti Rath begins to roll across the country, it would be appropriate
to recall the last four yatras and the message that each one of them conveyed
to the people.
Ram Rath Yatra
The BJP's first
yatra, contrary to what the pseudo-secularists claim, was not merely a
part of the Mandir-Masjid dispute centred around Ram Janmabhumi at Ayodhya.
Although linked to the liberation of Ram Janmabhumi, its aim was to raise
three fundamental questions that had all along lurked in the collective
sub-conscience of the nation but nobody had dared ask them, fearful of
retribution from the pseudo-secularists who had ruled India by default
since 1947. These questions were:
What is secularism?
What is communalism?
Can national integration
be achieved by constantly pandering to minority communalism?
Cannot Government
reject the cult of minorityism?
The Ram Rath Yatra
began from Somnath on September 25, 1990, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya's
birth anniversary, and was supposed to culminate at Ayodhya on October
30, after traversing 10,000 km.
Why Somnath?
And, why Ayodhya?
It was at Somnath
that the assault on Hindu temples and shrines, the living symbols of
an ancient nation, by Islamic invaders began ~- in 1026 the Somnath
shrine was ransacked and its riches plundered by Mahmud Ghaznavi. The
temple was rebuilt, only to be put to sword again, and again, and yet
again. But not all the armies of the invaders could kill the spirit
of Somnath. In 1950, the destroyed temple was rebuilt at the initiative
of Sardar Patel as a symbol of resurgent Indian nationhood.
Shri Advani
chose Somnath as the starting point of his yatra because the reconstruction
of the shrine on the rubble of loot and plunder was the first chapter
in a journey to "preserve the old symbols of unity, communal amity and
cultural oneness". The Yatra was scheduled to conclude at Ayodhya because
the liberation of Ram Janmabhumi would be the second.
This simple
message of oneness, of cultural nationalism, of questioning the conventional
wisdom of appeasement and minorityism, caught the imagination of the
people. The yatra was a tremendous success -- no other effort at political
mobilisation had drawn such a popular response. The yatra brought into
sharp focus the contrast between "lok shakti", as represented by the
masses, and "raj shakti", as represented by the elitist rulers in Delhi.
The moral and
revolutionary dimension of the Ram Rath Yatra made it comparable to
the Salt Satyagraha or "Dandi march" of Gandhi in 1930. The yatra effectively
drove home the point that if Ram represented the ideal of conduct, Ram
Rajya represented the ideal of governance. The sheer magnitude of popular
support made it comparable to Tilak's appropriation of Ganesh Chaturthi
to mobilise public opinion against colonial rule. The cultural dimension
of the yatra made it comparable to the anti-cow slaughter campaign of
Gandhi.
The awesome
tidal wave of nationalism unleashed by the yatra unnerved the pseudo-secularists.
'Jai Shri Ram' became more than a traditional greeting: it became a
roaring endorsement of the BJP's view that secularism does not mean
a rejection of our history and cultural heritage, the very foundations
of this great nation. The two leading champions of pseudo-secularism,
Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav, swung into action,
using the only means with which they are comfortable -- repression and
terror. Shri Advani was arrested in the wee hours of the morning on
October 23 in Bihar at Samastipur and held captive at Masanjore. In
Uttar Pradesh, a brutal crackdown was ordered against the votaries of
resurgent nationalism.
Ironically,
despite such marshalling of the state's might, "raj shakti" had to suffer
a humilating defeat at the hands of "lok shakti'. Vishwanath Pratap
Singh, who had tried to cynically exploit caste and religious identities
to perpetuate his rule. had to make an ignominious exit. Today, his
party, the Janata Dal, is a near extinct political species, barely alive
with the help of the Congress. The disputed structure over which Muslims
were egged on to shed blood by their self-appointed 'secular' guardians,
does not exist any more. The man who had the audacity to halt the Ram
Rath and arrest Shri Advani, today stands exposed as a venal politician
driven by pelf and power.
Today, the BJP
is the largest political party in the country, thanks to the journey
that began from Somnath during the Navaratri of 1990. The procession
that began with a handful of nationalists led by an uncompromising nationalist
is today a roaring stream of nationalist fervour. The pilgrimage will
be over the day Ram Lalla finds his rightful place in a temple commemorating
the sacred site of his birth.
Ekta Yatra
Nineteen Ninety-One.
The entire State of Jammu & Kashmir was engulfed by the flames of separatism
and fundamentalist terrorism - -fanned, aided and abetted by Pakistan.
As many as three lakh Pandits had fled the terror unleashed upon them
in the Valley, their ancestral land for centuries past, and sought shelters,
in camps, reduced to the, status of refugees in their own country. Punjab's
fields. were soaked with the blood of innocent victims of separatist
terror.
A weak Government
at the Centre made the situation worse. There was neither direction
nor purpose in the Government's actions, such as they were. At the behest
of aggressive Pakistani activism at international fora and as a result
of intrusive diplomacy by the West, India had become a nation under
siege. both within and outside. A big question mark had come to hang
over India's unity and integrity.
Shri Murli Manohar
Joshi, who had just taken charge as party president, decided to embark
on a yatra -- the message this time would be the need to preserve our
unity. our ekta, in the face of such adversity. The 47-day yatra was,
thus, appropriately named Ekta Yatra. It would carry this message from
one tip of the country to the other.
The Ekta Yatra
was flagged off from Kanyakumari on December 11, 1991. It was to conclude
at Srinagar on January 26, 1992, with the hoisting of the Tricolour
at Lal Chowk which was then witnessing a see-saw battle for control
between the security-forces and terrorists. Indeed, the Tricolour was
being burned in an open act of defiance of the Indian state and as a
rejection of India's national identity.
Kanyakumari
revives memories of Swami Vivekananda, who passionately espoused the
cause of cultural nationalism and restored pride in being a Hindu. He
represented, in many ways, the collective aspirations of an ancient
nation whose identity had been ruthlessly suppressed by a series of
conquerors from foreign shores. December 11 marked the birth anniversary
of the nationalist Tamil poet, Subramanyam Bharati. It also marked the
martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur who had taken it upon himself to protect
the Hindus of Kashmir from being persecuted by the Moghuls and their
subedars.
Lakhs of people
greeted the yatra along its route. People volunteered to accompany the
yatris on their arduous and dangerous mission. By the time it reached
Delhi, the number of people wanting to accompany the Ekta Rath to Srinagar
had become unmanageable.
On January 25
a landslide, unfortunately, blocked Banihal Pass and the yatra was threatened
with disruption. But a determined BJP leadership decided to fly down
to Srinagar to hoist the Tricolour at the predetermined spot on the
predetermined day -- Republic Day, 1992. At the behest of the then Congress
Government at the Centre, the State administration tried to create obstacles.
"It is not safe," they argued. "We cannot assure your security," they
warned. "Please do not go," they pleaded.
The purpose
was clear - to appease the anti-India sentiments of the separatists
and their cohorts. But the BJP defeated this purpose. As did the gallant
jawans of the Army and the BSF. Shri Joshi and other senior leaders
flew down to Srinagar from Jammu and at the appointed hour, the noble
mission was fulfilled. Had not Shri Joshi unfurled the Tricolour at
Lal Chowk, the National Flag would not have been hoisted anywhere in
the Valley that year. While the Prime Minister and his Ministers cowered
behind the protective shield of the national capital, the then BJP President
showed the courage to dare the terrorists in their own backyard.
In a sense,
the Ekta Yatra marked the turning point in the battle against terrorism.
Soon after, the security forces in Punjab broke the backbone of separatism
while in Kashmir the jawans launched a vigorous counter-offensive, knowing
they were not alone in the sacred duty of protecting the country's honour
and dignity, the nation's unity and integrity.
Janadesh Yatra
Nineteen Ninety-Three.
Backed by the Marxists and other assorted pseudo-secularists, the Rao
Government introduced two draconian Bills -- the Constitution 80th Amendment
Bill and the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill -- with the dual
purpose of banning religion from public life as well as denying political
space to the BJP. The underpinning of these proposed legislations, as
in the past, was minority appeasement and crass votebank politics. The
BJP stalled the Bills in Parliament and the debate was deferred, although
the Bills were not withdrawn.
The BJP's opposition
was articulated by Shri Advani:
"We strongly
object to religion being translated as dharma... for the average Indian,
irrespective of whether he is a Hindu, or a Muslim or a Christian,
his respective religion is for him an inspiration for righteous conduct.
By ousting religion from politics, we will only be weakening the moral
base of public life... politics should be cleansed of adharma, not
dharma. It should be rid of corruption and criminalisation, not of
probity and integrity..."
Through these
Bills, the pseudo-secularists sought to achieve four principal objectives:
Subvert the basic
scheme of elections and allow pre-emptive disqualification;
Provide constitutional
legitimacy to banning organisations;
Make the state
irreligious rather than one which respects all religions equally;
Allow the summary
deregistration of political parties.
Once again Shri
Advani took the lead in mobilising public opinion against these draconian,
anti-democratic, anti-people measures. He planned a four-pronged yatra,
to be led by senior leaders of the party. Thus was born the Janadesh
Yatra with the purpose of seeking the people's mandate against the two
Bills.
The four yatras
began on September 11, 1993, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda,
from four corners of the country. Shri Advani himself led the yatra
from Mysore; Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat from Jammu; Shri Murli Manohar
Joshi from Porbandar; and, Shri Kalyan Singh from Calcutta. Travelling
through 14 States and two Union Territories, the yatris congregated
at Bhopal on September 25 in a massive rally. The Janadesh Yatra was
a runaway success.
It was, by all
accounts, an unprecedented programme of mass contact; a programme that
took the debate on the 'religion Bills' from the antiseptic drawing
rooms of Delhi to the dusty villages of Bharat. Once again, while the
BJP's detractors schemed and plotted iii the national Capital, the BJP
went to the nation's people!
Shri Advani
had a tremendous response in Naxalite Telegana. Huge crowds greeted
Shri Joshi in Ahmedabad. The tumultuous response to Shri Kalyan Singh
in Calcutta prompted The Indian Express to headline its report: 'Red
City Turns Saffron", a report which acknowledged, 'the city will perhaps
never be the same again." In terrorism-affected Punjab, for the first
time in a decade a political party had come out in such a big way: As
crowds greeted Shri Shekhawat, officials thanked him, saying the yatra
had helped revive the morale of the administration.
The Bills were
never passed. Indeed, its proponents, clearly scared by the public rejection
of their dubious move, could not summon the courage to initiate a debate.
The adharmic move of the pseudo-secularists was one again defeated by
the forces of dharma. The evocative theme of the Janadesh Yatra, "Loktantra
Rakshanaye, Dharmachakra Pravartanaye". proved a winner.
Suraj Yatra
Nineteen Ninety-Six.
Faced with imminent defeat in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, P.V.
Narasimha Rao did what came to him naturally -- he filed a false chargesheet
against Shri L.K. Advani. The devious, diabolic intention behind the framing
of the BJP President was clear to all -- to hobble the Congress' principal
challenger, the Bharatiya Janata Party.
What Narasimha
Rao did not reckon for was Shri Advani's whiplash reaction -- he resigned
his seat in the Lok Sabha and took a public vow not to enter Parliament
till cleared of the patently concocted charges -- which put him head
and shoulder higher than all other politicians. and the resolute manner
in which the entire party stood by its President, something which is
alien to the non-BJP political culture.
Shri Advani
decided to take the battle to the people and let the final masters of
our democracy decide who was right and who was wrong. Once again, while
others plotted and' schemed and manoeuvred in Delhi, the BJP took the
burning issue of the day, corruption, to the masses. Since 1996 marked
50 years of self-rule (the interim government headed by Nehru was installed
in 1946) as well as the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,
the theme for this yatra, named "Suraj Yatra" was 'From Swaraj to Suraj'.
Explaining the
purpose of the yatra, Shri Advani had then observed:
"Delhi Chalo
(the slogan raised by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose) became an inspiring
slogan for all patriots. Delhi Chalo at that time was a slogan aimed
at Swaraj (self-government). Though we have had swaraj for half-a-century,
suraj has been eluding us. Let the BJP become an instrument to usher
in suraj. Through this Suraj Yatra we will take the BJP's message
of Suraksha, Shuchita, Samarasta and Swadeshi, and its ideology of
cultural nationalism (Hindutva) to the people."
And the message
was indeed taken to the people. Starting from Ernakulum on March 9,
Shri Advani traversed across the country, inspiring the lakhs of people
who came out on the streets to greet him with his stirring exhortation
to fight corruption, protect the country, strengthen social cohesion,
adopt swadeshi and be proud of our cultural heritage. The indefatigable
yatri travelled through the summer heat of the northern plains, spreading
his message, establishing contact with the masses from early morning
till late night. People braved the mid-day sun to hear him. Crowds waited
patiently at night, waiting to welcome Shri Advani, the pilgrim with
a cause, the leader with a vision and the traveller with a message.
By the time
the yatra ended at Lucknow, the objective had been achieved. It was
amply clear that the Congress was set for a worst-ever, crushing defeat.
When the votes were counted, the results showed that the people had
registered their mandate for change, their endorsement of suraj, proving
pseudo-secular Cassandras wrong. though not for the first or the last
time!
Swarna
Jayanthi Rath Yatra |