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The L K Advani Chat

'Our approach will be if they come, with them, if they do not, without them, if they oppose us, in spite of them'

Despite the busy and hectic times forced on his government by a long-pending political crisis, Home Minister L K Advani did not cancel his chat. He logged into the Rediff Chat from his office in North Block, Delhi, a few minutes later than the scheduled 3.30pm IST, but stayed on for the promised one hour duration. There was a flood of questions, both live as well as received on email, and at the end he was apologetic about the huge number of unanswered questions.

I have been invited by Rediff On The Net to answer your questions and I am here at my North Block office, ready to speak to you.

Advaniji, What will be the effect if Jayalalitha withdraw the support? Do you think your government will prove the majority?

Adavaniji today you have indicated that you may not have the numbers does that mean you have to convince Jayalalithaji once more.

Atul and Eshwar: Both of you have referred to the strength of the various parties in the Lok Sabha. This resort to calculators has not started with this session. We have had to do it from day one, and from day one, our opponents have been saying that this government will not last. Yet, Vajpayeeji's government has observed its first birth anniversary only a few days back and it has been growing from strength to strength, perceptibly becoming stabler, causing immense disappointment to our adversaries. When the Budget session of Parliament resumes on the 15th of this month, there have been threats of fireworks but the outcome is going to be the same, namely, the government proving its mandate once again.

advaniji, namaskar.

Venkat, namaskar to you. You have not asked any questions, but it is nice of you to greet me.

Dear Advaniji, our country should not be handed over to Non Indian Origin, what do you think?

Rajesh T: There is no question of handing over this country to anyone other than those who belong to it. But I know that there are millions of people of Indian origin who have settled abroad, acquired passports of other countries but who continue to feel greatly attached to India, and who are keen to contribute as much as they can for the development of India. The Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) scheme, launched by the government a few days back is a project where under all these millions can contribute their bit.

Advaniji, everyone is asking how the govt will survive. I would like to ask you how u see this country will survive the next millenium?

Mr Faisal: Survival is hardly an achievement, and yet as I have said in reply to some other friends earlier, from the very inception of the Vajpayee government, sceptics have not been wanting who keep predicting its doom. And yet, this government has not only survived but has been day after day adding to its tally of achievements and taking numerous initiatives which we believe will stand India in good stead in the coming millennium.

Do you still nurse the dream of the BJP ruling India without any allies? The era of single-party rule, experts say, is over!

Siva Sankar: Every party naturally would like to acquire strength adequate to enable it to rule the country by itself. But talking about the BJP, you just realise that in the year 1988, this party had a strength of just two members in the Lok Sabha, and from two we grew to eighty six; from 86 to 119, from 119 to160, and in 1998, this 160 went up to 182.

This is phenomenal progress for a party, but I would not deny that the BJP's growth has kept not pace with the steep decline of the Congress party. But in the last one year we have been successful in attracting towards the BJP a number of allies and in the process of working with them, evolve what we describe as the norms of the dharma of coalitions.

I am confident that we'll continue in this direction, fine tuning these norms, in the process discarding undependable allies and thus gradually crystallising the fact of Indian national politics which has already emerged: namely that today Indian politics is no longer dominated by one single party as it was just a decade ago.

But there are two nuclei of national parties: one the BJP, and the second, the Congress. And all other parties have to opt between these two nuclei. A bipolar polity has thus emerged in a multiparty set-up.

Advaniji Don't you think democracy is turning out to be a farce in India?

Shiva: I do not agree with you that democracy has turned out to be a farce. I think it's quite an achievement for a country as vast as ours, as heterogeneous, where levels of development and literacy are so low that in a period of more than 50 years, we have had literally crores of people participating in democratic elections and changing governments peacefully unlike the kind of violence that accompanies political change in many other developing countries. Despite all difficulties, India has had a free press, an independent judiciary, a vigorously functioning opposition party. We can legitimately proud that we have been functioning as a vibrant democracy.

Advani Saheb >> Here in Maharastra there are speculations that Sharad Pawar would cross over to BJP. Can U put light on that issue.

Himanshu: I wish Rediff On The Net could invite Sharad Pawar to answer that question. Today of course he is the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and it has been my government's endeavour that both he and his counterpart in the Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh, are consulted on vital issues.

Mr. Advani, Do you feel that accepting the Line of Control with Pakaistan as the international border would be a step in solving the Kashmir problem and the relationship with Pakistan ?

Mr Venkatesh: I am sure you are aware of the unanimous resolution passed by Parliament a few years back, during Narasimha Rao's tenure, affirming that Jammu and Kashmir in its entirety, including Pak-occupied Kashmir is part and parcel of India. Our government is committed to this resolution, even so we have decided to discuss the matter with Pakistan and find a solution to all Indo-Pakistan dispute, including the controversy over Jammu and Kashmir through negotiations. Vajpayeeji's historic initiative a few weeks back, leading to the Lahore declaration, only highlights this desire of government which we believe is the will of the nation.

Honb. home minister, If the law and order in Delhi is responsibility of union government, why the situation is so bad when We have such a strong home minister?....Pl. explain if you can.

Pjoshi: Joshiji, if the Dawood were in Maharashtra or in any other part of the country, I am sure the authorities would have nabbed him by now. To the best of our knowledge, he is not within the country, but I appreciate your anxiety that those who have been violators of law, as he has been, should be apprehended.

Good Afternoon Advaniji. Instead of the exchange of allegations between the Defence Min and the ousted Admiral, wouldnt it be better if the facts came out and the people feel that the Govt's decision was justified?

Ritesh: One thing that needs to be understood that the decision to have the President withdraw pleasure from Admiral Bhagwat was not taken by the defence minister alone, but a decision taken by the cabinet committee on security headed by the prime minister, and including the finance minister, defence minister and the home minister. In so far as the reasons that culminated in this decision, only yesterday my colleague George Fernandes has given to the country an elaborate account in that regard. But the crux of it is that when any official in that high position says that he will not implement a particular decision of the government, he is indulging in insubordination that cannot be condoned.

Sir Why don't you go to the people and enlighten them the malicious deeds of Congress and why is the delay in exposing the Bofors Scandal investigations results ?

csn_v: There is no delay. To the best of my knowledge, the CBI has been pursuing the Bofors issue but because it needs full co-operation from foreign countries and because some key suspects have taken refuge in countries with whom India does not have any extradition treaty, there has been an unavoidable delay. In this context, I would like to affirm that during the past one decade, words most frequently used in political parlance have been scandal, scam, racket. Vajpayee's first year in office will always be remembered as a scam-free year. Also, it has been a riot-free year.

Mr Advani: How can a man like you be the home minister when you personally have been responsible for creating communal hatred between Hindus and Muslims. Don't you feel ashamed?

Nigu: Obviously you are referring to the happenings in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Those who were there with me on that day, and those who have read a series of articles I wrote after that happenning in which I described the incident as unfortunate and that day as one of the saddest day in my life, would not make the kind of accusation that you have made.

Advaniji, I am wondering if the BJP knew what they were getting into when they decided to ally with certain parties? Especially with the one that's creating all these problems from day one. Please let us know on what basis these decisions were made?

Karthik Subbiah: Just recall 1996. An election in which too the BJP emerged as the largest single party in the Lok Sabha and so was invited by the President to form the government. The government lasted for just 13 days, principally because no party was willing even to associate with the BJP.

The years 1996 to 1998 was utilised by the party systematically to break this attitude of ostracism and political untouchability, assiduously created by our adversaries who were extremely perturbed at the tremendous that the party was making. Therefore, in 1998, quite a few parties came along with us even before the elections. Some came with us after the polls. Together we drew up a national agenda of governance, on the basis of which the Vajpayee government has been functioning.

This year, has given us an actual experience of what exactly alliance partners expect, if their expectations are reasonable, the BJP as the principle party would be willing to concede them. But when we find them unreasonable, we stand firm and that does cause annoyance. On the whole our approach will be if they come, with them, if they do not without them, if they oppose us in spite of them. The BJP will continue to march forward and make India a great country in the 21st century.

Mr Advani, do you see yourself as prime minister someday?

Sai: As party president, I have said at Bombay in December 1995 that if the BJP secures a majority, our prime minister would be Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In these three years since then, this has become a reality and it is a matter of pride for every Indian that the country has such an outstanding leader leading the country. There are persons who acquire stature because of the office they hold. In the case of Atalji. it is the office that becomes exalted because of his stature and personality.

respected sir,do all these compromises hurt your conscience?

rajeevranade: rajeevji, politics they say is the art of the possible. One would like it to be idealist, but that may not be possible. However, when one talks about compromises, one is using the word in a pejorative sense. I do not think that to survive in the political field it is ever necessary to compromise in the sense of demeaning yourself. I would like the BJP to get a clear majority to rule by itself, aligning with other parties on the basis of a common programme may be a compromise but it is certainly no surrender of values.

Mr Advani, Sudhaker Reddy asked: (Q) What steps would you take to have governance on the Lines of Late Sardar Patel ? (Q) What kind of Challenges, do you see in today's India for the role of Home Minister, considering Kashmir, Bihar and North East Insurgency ?

Sudhakar Reddy: Ever since the formation of this government, we have regarded internal security environment afflicted by terrorism, militancy as a major challenge. The worst affected region in the country has been Jammu and Kashmir. For years this has been a paradise for tourists, and yet in the last 10 years, tourism dried up completely. Film producers used to flock to Srinagar, Pehelgam and Gulmarg to shoot their films, For 10 years they stopped going to J&K and would visit Kulu Manali and Ooty. I feel gratified that during 1998, the situation of 10 years back has been restored. More than 120,000 tourists visited the state during the year; more than 150,000 pilgrims visited Amarnath, hotels and houseboats have been flourishing once again. Film companies are back with star load. For the first time in 10 years, Republic Day 1999 was observed in every single district and tehsil place without a single incident. But despite these achievements, the danger of cross border terrorism, cross border militancy and infiltration continues. This government is determined to see that normalcy is restored completely. And one important touchstone for judging the return of normalcy would be the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their hearths and homes in the valley.

I wish I could have replied to the numerous questions that have been posed by you all. I could deal with only a few of these because of the limitations of time. Anyway, thank you and Happy Surfing!