Advani pays tribute to Congressman Patel at the anti-corruption rally in Mangalore

Mangalore, October 31: Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Monday emphasised the importance of fighting for national integrity along with the fight against corruption in India.

Interestingly, in his 45-minute-long speech at Nehru Maidan in Mangalore, where thousands of enthusiastic BJP workers had gathered to witness the sixth all-India Yatra of the octogenarian leader, Mr Advani dedicated more than 15 minutes to glorify the contributions of the country's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, whose 136th birth anniversary falls on October 31.

“Had there not been a leader like Mr Patel, India would have been splintered as per the wish of British, who in 1947, apart from giving freedom to the country, made sure that it would be divided, disintegrated and splintered”, he said and added: “However, he was deliberately disregarded by the ruling Congress party.”

Mr Advani, quoting the statements of former Governor General of India C Rajagopalachari and bureaucrat-turned-writer V P Menon, hailed the contribution of Mr Patel in handling the issue of integration of independent provinces into one nation in his short stint of three-and-a-half-years before his death in 1950.

Mr Advani said the way Sardar Patel had integrated India and awakened patriotic spirit of over 500-odd rulers in a short span of three-and-a-half-year, notwithstanding the mass migration of people in the subcontinent, was indeed a herculean task.

“With great effort of Sardar Patel all the independent states had come under the absolute sovereignty of Indian government, except Jammu and Kashmir, where for the first time Indian flag was hoisted in 1953 after the mysterious death of the erstwhile Bhartiya Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in Kashmir jail while opposing the special provisions for the border state,” he said.

He also warned the government against any attempt made under international pressure to enforce the pre-1953 arrangement in Jammu and Kashmir which gave the state a separate constitution and flag, saying this would lead to a backlash across India.

"Today when the BJP is widely spread across the country any agreement on Kashmir which takes a u-turn to pre-1953 situation would evoke such a forceful agitation in the country that nobody could have imagined," Advani claimed.

Attachment with Karnataka

Recalling his association with Karnataka, which is the 14th state the BJP leader has stepped into as part of his 23-state yatra, Mr Advani said: “I have developed a special attachment with Karnataka, because this is the only Indian state where I had spent 19 months in one place”.

Mr Advani had been put behind the bars of Bangalore Central Jail in June 1975, following the declaration of emergency by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

In a surprise revelation to many, Mr Advani also said that he had developed a special interest on this particular part of Karnataka (coastal Karnataka), as it was here the erstwhile Bhartiya Jan Sangh had won a town municipal council election for the first time in South India. “Exactly 40 years before the BJP came to power in a South Indian State, Jan Sangh in 1968, had bagged Udupi town municipal council, which was a part of undivided Dakhsina Kannada district,” he said adding that he wanted to congratulate the people of coastal Karnataka for this.

Credibility, the biggest virtue

He said that when, he launched Yatra a few days ago, a few people suggested him to exclude Karnataka in anti-corruption rally and take forward the Yatra on a different route. “But it was my decision to not to omit this state at any cost. If there was any shortcoming within us, I prefer to address it first,” he said in an apparent reference to the situation of Karnataka, where prominent leaders of saffron party are in jail following allegations of corruption.

“Through this yatra I am sending a clear message to all that there will be no compromise with corruption. I do not say this just for the Union government but for my party also as there can be no compromise on corruption”, the words of Mr Advani were received with applause by thousands of people.

“When you voice against corruption, you should have credibility, as it is the biggest virtue in public life”, he said exhorting his party leaders to maintain credibility.

Mr. Advani also hailed the new Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda as a competent and credible ruler.

Most corrupt-government

Calling the UPA led union government as the most corrupt government he has ever seen in the history of India, Mr Advani exhorted the aam-admi not to be tolerant towards corruption.

Naming the scandals of union government ranging from 2G spectrum to Adarsh Housing society scam, Mr Advani said these were the real achievements of Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi led government. “The worst among all these mega scandals was the cash-for-vote scam”, he said.

The union government took an extreme step against democracy, when it arrested two former BJP MPs, who had played the role of whistle blowers by exposing this scam, he said.

“In countries like United States and Canada, there is a separate law to protect the whistle blowers. But, the Congress led Centre dared to arrest the then-MPs, who had flashed currency bundles in Parliament to expose the cash-for vote scam”, he lamented.

''If exposing the scam was a mistake, I am bigger offender as I was in full knowledge of how our MPs wanted to expose the corrupt Congress practices, '' Mr Advani said.

The BJP veteran also exhorted the people to unite for the cause of bringing back Rs 25-lakh crore black money stashed away in foreign banks to the country and use it for the upliftment and strengthening of the rural people and poorer sections of the society.

Mr Advani ended his speech with the slogans ‘Bhrashtachar-Mithayenge’, ‘Kala Dhan-Wapas Layenge’ and ‘Bharath Desh-Banayenge’