L K Advani Breaks Silence, Says BJP Critics Not Anti-Nationals

New Delhi: After a long silence, BJP patriarch L K Advani on Thursday took to his blog post and spoke out against party leaders, who brand rivals as anti-national for disagreeing with them politically.

The nonagenarian, who has been sidelined by the party and denied ticket for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, made these remarks in his blog post, five years after he penned his last piece.

Advani’s attack seemed to be directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, who have made national security a key election plank and have often accused political opponents of speaking the language of India’s enemies like Pakistan.

“The essence of Indian democracy is respect for diversity and freedom of expression. Right from its inception, the BJP has never regarded those who disagree with us politically as our ‘enemies’, but only as our adversaries. Similarly, in our conception of Indian nationalism, we have never regarded those who disagree with us politically as ‘anti-national’. The party has been committed to freedom of choice of every citizen at personal as well as political level,” Advani said.

He said defence of democracy and democratic traditions, both within the party and in the larger national settings has been the proud hallmark of BJP. Therefore, the saffron party has always been at the forefront of demanding protection of independence, integrity, fairness and robustness of all our democratic institutions, including the media.

Advani, who served the Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency for six consecutive terms, conveyed his regards to the people of the constituency, saying their love and support has always overwhelmed him.

The BJP replaced him with Amit Shah for the constituency, with may political observers describing the move as Advani’s forced retirement from active politics.