Advani, the writer, shows the way to other politicians | Girish Nikam

Published on 17-03-2008 In National

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Advani, the writer, shows the way to other politicians

Unlike the western politicians, Indian politicians are not known to pen their memoirs. Over the last 25 years one has interacted with politicians of all hues and colour in this country, one of the hardest things to get them to do is to get them to write their memoirs. One remembers persuading Ramakrishna Hegde during almost every meeting, especially in the last five years of his life, to get down to write. Several other journalists and well wishers also did. But he never got down to doing it, sadly. And he had a wealth of material to tell us, right from pre-independence days to present. His refrain would always be--- oh, you know, if I write many of the people I have to write about, are still around and I may ruffle quite a few feathers.

The same refrain is heard over and over again from many other senior political leaders also. Result is we never get to know the truths behind many political events and we are left speculating about them. It is important to know the views, thoughts, feelings, compulsions, differences and constraints of politicians, in a thriving democracy like ours, which can only be brought out in candid autobiographies, and sometimes, professionally done biographies too.

But in India they are far and few between. Most Congress politicians are guilty of not writing, simply because they just don't want to ever be seen hurting the sentiments of the first family of their party. And any worth its salt autobiography of a Congressman would inevitably have to comment on the first family. Even the left party leaders, despite being the most hard working and literary kinds, who do a lot of writing themselves for their own party organs, are also guilty of this omission.

And since politicians hardly ever retire, they would always hedge their bets to getting some sinecure or other, even when they are over the hill. So all we get are third class biographies, by fly by night operators out to endear themselves to their subjects and making some quick buck or taking a rain check for future use. Some honourable exceptions, of course are there, one in the recent past being a biography of Sonia Gandhi by Rasheed Kidwai, which was to be made into a film, but has faced many hurdles.

The BJP leaders however have been better. Some time back, Jaswant Singh and Yeshwant Sinha have come up with their books, both interesting and kicked up some dust, the former's especially. It gave some good insights into not just their own life, but also the working of the BJP and the NDA Governments.

And now comes the biggest blockbuster of them all---- L.K.Advani's autobiography---My Country, My life. No leader of Advani's stature and at his stage in life---remember he is the Prime Ministerial aspirant of the NDA---- has ever in this country dared to bring out his autobiography, after Jawaharlal Nehru. And for that one single act of daring, Advani needs to be whole-heartedly complimented. As the Times of India extract indicates, it will be one of the most interesting books of the year.

Already the whiffs of controversy are all over the air over the book.

His first bombshell is about the differences between "Atal Behari Vajpayee and many senior ministers and I" about entrusting the responsibility of both National Security Adviser and Principal Secretary to the PM, to Brajesh Mishra. This itself is bound to excite the media and the political world, especially the opponents of BJP, and gobble up huge media space in the coming days. It was always felt that Mishra, a personal choice of Vajpayee, was a bete noire to many in the BJP. And now by making it public and official, Advani has virtually opened a pandora's box. How it is all going to play out in the coming days and weeks will be extremely interesting to watch.

There is of course the revealation once again about Kargil intrusion and how it was allowed and what happened later. This is also going to open a fresh can of worms, and Defence Minister George Fernandes is not going to look very good. The hijacking of Indian Airlines and the subsequent release of the dreaded terrorists by the NDA Government is another issue on which Advani's take will generate a lot of interest, and possibly controversies too.

Of course the entire Jinnah episode and what Advani has to say on it, though he has already said quite a bit, will be worth watching. Advani's boys, his protégés, as well as his detractors within the party and RSS also will be watching closely about what he has to say about them. Of course he has already opened a line of attack, as per the extracts, against Congress and Nehru and Indira Gandhi and their role in the wars with Pakistan and China from 1947 to 1971. This is bound to lead to a fresh round of war of words between the two parties and their supporters.

Being one of the most controversial and important politicians in the last atleast 30 years, every thing he has to say on everything which has happened in this country, during this period will be important. It will also help the historians to understand this period of Indian politics better.

Advani's courage in releasing this book at this stage is more interesting as it can make or mar his Prime Ministerial ambitions. Surely, being the clever and astute politician that he is, he is unlikely to have not taken this possibility into account. It looks like he has taken a calculated risk. And as far as "ruffling feathers" is concerned, he is likely to do quite a bit of it. Not too many politicians of his generation have shown this kind of audacity. That itself should endear him to those who have looked forward to politicians' autobiographies. As far as what impact it will have on his rather limited career he can hope to have, it is something one can assess after the book is out. But Advani has surely shown the way to his fellow politicians a path, which hopefully will be followed more often by others. As far as we readers are concerned, it is time we also mature and take this genre of books in our stride and be more open to it, and less sensational. One can't wait to lay hands on this book of the year.

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