Author: L K Advani
Foreword/Introduction: Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 986
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788129113634
Description
My Country My Life is an extraordinary Self-portrait of India's leading political personality - L K Advani. As an immigrant who was forced to abandon his beloved Sindh, which became a part of Pakistan after India was partitioned in 1947 on the basis of the communally inspired Two Nation theory, Advani gives a poignant first-person account of that tragedy. With a career spanning six decades as a political activist in post-1947 India, during which he has been a ring-side viewer of, and participant in, almost all the major socio-political developments in India, Advani is uniquely qualified to offer a perspective on Independent India's political evolution.
The apogee of Advani's achievements was his seminal contribution, together with his senior colleague Atal Bihari Vajpayee, towards ending the Congress Party's dominance over India's polity by building the Bhartiya Janata Party as a viable alternative for governing India.
The book provides a riveting , insightful and assertive account of Advani's fight for democracy during the Emergency, his Ram Rath Yatra for the reconstruction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya that resulted in the biggest mass movement in independent India since independence and catalyzed a nationwide debate on the true meaning of secularism, and his years as India's Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister in the Vajpayee-led government of the National Democratic Alliance between 1998-2004.
My country My Life is a testimony to what Advani's admirers as well as his critics have always known him for: the gift of clarity of thought, strong convictions and forceful articulation. This is a candid reflection on himself, his party and his nation that is likely to engage readers in a tour de force with India's leading statesman. In a country where political memoirs, especially those who are still active in politics, are rare, this book is a landmark.
FROM THE FOREWORD
Advanji has been my friend and comrade-in-arms for over fifty years. He has never compromised on his core belief in nationalism, and yet has displayed flexibility in political responses whenever it was demanded by the situation. He has an open mind that always absorbs new ideas from diverse sources. I am certain that My Country My Life will be read widely, and with interest, by people from diverse backgrounds. For mirrored in it is the remarkable journey of a sensitive human being and an outstanding leader whose best, I hope and pray, is yet to come.
Contents
Acknowledgement
Foreword by Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Prologue
PHASE 1
Triumph of freedom, Tragedy of Partition
Sindh and India: An unbreakable Bond
My First Twenty Years in Sindh
Partition: Who was Responsible?
PHASE 2
Migration from Sindh to Rajasthan
My Work as a RSS Pracharak
Mahatama Gandhi's Tragic Assassination
Dr. Mookerjee and the Formation of the Bharatiya Janta Party
The Thrill of Participating in the First General Elections
PHASE 3
Moving from Rajasthan to Delhi
The Organiser Years
The Bliss of Family Life
My Entry into the Delhi Metropolitan Council
Pandit Deendayal Upadhaya
The Beginning of My Parliamentary Career
The Journey from Kanpur to Kanpur
Two Events that Changed History
Emergency: Democracy Imprisoned
PHASE 4
The End of the Darkest Period in Indian History
My Stint in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry
The People Betrayed: The Fall of the Janta Government
Return to Indira Gandhi
The Lotus Blooms
The 1980s: The BJP"s Phoenix-like Rise
The Ayodhaya Movement
The Trauma and Triumph of Punjab
The Entry and Exit of Two Prime Ministers in Two Years
Five Years of P V Narasimha Rao's Government
Three Prime Ministers in Two Years
The Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra: A Patriotic Pilgrimage
PHASE 5
The Beginning of a New Era
The Kargil War: a Decisive Victory for India
The NDA Returns to Power
Review of the working of the Indian Constitution
At the Helm of the Home Ministry
\Cross-Border Terrorism
Pakistan-s Proxy War
Dealing with the Kashmir Issue
Vajpayee- Musharraf summit in Agra
Securing Assam and North-East for the Future
Naxalism, other Challenges and Initiatives
Communal Violence in Gujarat: Propaganda versus Reality
Defeat in the Polls: Turmoil in the Party
My Pakistan Yatra
'I Have No Regrets.'
Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A Statesman with a Poetic Soul
Reminiscences and Reflections
In Pursuit of Meaning and Happiness in Life
Epilogue
Appendices
References
Glossary
List of Acronyms
Index