'My Country, My Life' traces the political journey of Advani

The stage set for the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani at the release of his book, soon turned into a political drama by getting enthusiastic support from the huge gathering of people of political milieu at Siri Fort Auditorium on Wednesday.

The book My Country, My Life was released by the former President A P J Abdul Kalam, who chose to walk down to the auditorium after being caught in a traffic snag at Khelgaon Marg.

Kalam said, “He combines an incisive analytical ability with a panoramic view of India. The book is mandatory reading for the young as it reveals not only the personality of the writer but also the tumultuous ambience of the time that he witnessed.”

The book is memoir of his journey in the political world and the developments of politics over the time of six decades. The evolution of his party till date and his ideological believe in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

On being an ardent follower of RSS he remarked, “Right from the day I joined the RSS, it has continued to exert a profound influence on me. All the positives in my personality and work can be accredited to the RSS. I won’t delve much on the book here, but just allow it to speak itself.”

The 1000 pages also mention various other facts related to Kandahar plane hijack, Agra Summit to his controversial statement in which he said Jinnah as a secular leader.

Amidst huge gatherings with the likes of the eminent leaders, industrialists and Bollywood personalities there was one person who was missed all through out the function and he was Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Advani said, “If I have personally any regret, that regret is that Atalji is not here.” In his book he has mentioned his differences with Atal on several occasion including Godhra and Ayodhya.

Though he was not there but his foreword in the book ended the controversy where he mentioned about his differences with Advani, “Yes we have had our differences on issues and approaches during the course of our long association. This ethos of camaraderie is something that needs to be preserved zealously and strengthened in the BJP.”

Stressing that party should take lesson from their relationship; he describes Advani as a misunderstood person who has been a victim of the dichotomy between image and reality. While many critics said the book is an attempt to wash away his tarnished image ahead of election.