Five years ago, Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani spoke to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com on the Emergency. On the 40th anniversary of Indian democracy's darkest hour, we reproduce the interview.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday continued with its efforts to placate L K Advani, who is sulking over the party's decision to field him from Gandhinagar despite his wish to contest from Bhopal, with senior leaders, including Narendra Modi, meeting him.
Advani's office had on Thursday asserted that the book does not have his consent and has been published against his wishes.
Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday decided to recommend the name of veteran leader L K Advani to contest the Lok Sabha election from his Gandhinagar constituency.
Smriti Irani will reprise her electoral battle with Rahul Gandhi from Amethi.
Top ministers and politicians cutting across party lines greeted the BJP veteran.
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
'Shibu Soren was the tallest leader of tribals in the country.'
Joshi has issued a brief statement for voters in Kanpur, from where the 85-year-old leader had won in 2014.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday decided to oppose certain provisions in the Lokpal Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha and move for amendments in it.
According to Hindu scriptures, Ganga Dussehra marks the day the holy river Ganga descended to Earth from Lord Shiva's locks, moved by King Bhagirath's penance. The day is considered highly auspicious and symbolises virtue, penance, and the collective well-being of humanity.
Amid this unrest came the verdict of the Allahabad high court on June 12, 1975 that found Gandhi guilty over discrepancies in the electoral campaign, which led to the Emergency on the night of June 25.
74-year-old Singh, whose candidature was declared by NDA on July 16, filed his papers before Returning Officer T K Viswanathan, who is the Lok Sabha Secretary General.
The suspense over the controversial bill continues as the BJP insists that it was not introduced as Lok Sabha witnessed its stormiest proceedings ever.
If Advani's ideological leadership galvanised the party's cadres and core support, Vajpayee's soaring oratory, common touch, easy charm and convivial manners won over the masses and brought new allies on board.
The BJP's top leadership will drop its MPs found to be facing anti-incumbency, according to its internal surveys -- a pivotal tactic to ensure the party achieves its target of winning 370 seats.
Union ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Thaawarchand Gehlot, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Santosh Gangwar, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, BJP national general-secretary Arun Singh and party MP Maneka Gandhi also visited the hospital to know about his wellbeing.
'In my 26 years at Raj Bhavan, working with more than ten governors, I can tell you C P Radhakrishnan Sir stands out.'
The 91-year-old leader said, 'Right from its inception, the BJP has never regarded those who disagree with us politically as our 'enemies', but only as our adversaries.'
Voicing confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party will form the next government at the Centre, veteran BJP leader L K Advani, who had reservations on the PM candidature of Narendra Modi, on Sunday said he will accept any role the party will offer him after the Lok Sabha elections.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani has predicted that elections to the Lok Sabha would be held in October 2008, saying the UPA government cannot contain the price rise issue any longer. The Congress feels that the more they delay the elections, the more they will anger the voter, prompting elections in October, he said. Advani however added that if the Congress loses in the Karnataka elections, there is every chance of the Lok Sabha elections being postponed to early 2009.
The coming assembly and Lok Sabha elections -- the choice of candidates, the campaign strategies and the negotiations with other Opposition parties --0 represent the real test for Mallikarjun Kharge.
Bharatiya Janata Party patriarch L K Advani will sit in his old room in Parliament House with the Government on Tuesday restoring it to the veteran leader, days after indications of his possible dislocation from there.
Amid efforts to convince L K Advani on declaring Narendra Modi as Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Bihar's BJP chief Sushil Kumar Modi said the veteran leader had failed to gauge the public mood in this regard.
Here's a list of all the Padma award winners
'The Election Commission's involvement in the avoidable SIR controversy has carried a message down to the last voter -- who just does not like it,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Gujarat Congress on Friday filed a complaint with returning officer of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, alleging that senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the party's candidate L K Advani submitted false information regarding his education in the election affidavits.
Asking the United Progressive Alliance government to seek a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha if it wanted to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart L K Advani on Sunday said the Centre should focus on burning issues and development instead of fighting with the Left over the proposed pact.
With the Lok Sabha speaker's all-party meeting failing to break the logjam on Foreign Direct Investment in retail issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited the top brass of main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for a dinner on Thursday to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament in the winter session.
Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari has said party patriarch L K Advani deserves to be the President of India, a post commensurate with his stature.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who has been under attack from the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, on Tuesday reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Parliament and walked with one hand on her shoulder, ostensibly to win support for the passage of crucial Bills.
Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi on Sunday called on party patriarch L K Advani after holding consultation with a number of party leaders including his key aide Amit Shah in New Delhi ahead of the formation of the next government headed by him.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a one-on-one meeting with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, with whom he is not on the best of terms since the party patriarch opposed his elevation as poll campaign head.
Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani favoured a tie-up between BJP and its oldest ally Shiv Sena to form the government in Maharashtra while discounting the possibility of any truck with NCP.
The BJP will contest on 73 seats out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections as per the seat-sharing agreement reached between the saffron party and the Ajit Singh-led RLD.
The cash-for-vote scam rocked both Houses of Parliament Thursday with Bharatiya Janata Party objecting to the arrest of two of its "whistleblower" former MPs and demanding suspension of Question Hour to discuss the issue.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday expressed its keenness in getting the Women's Reservation Bill passed in Lok Sabha after a consensus is evolved on the issue and not by use of marshals as was done in the Rajya Sabha last year.
