The Advani Code- This Time Wrong!!!

It’s almost 2 months to the launch of Mr. Advani’s memoir ‘My country My Life’ and in these two months almost every columnist has written his/her views about the book. I also wrote a basic review based upon my limited and brief overlook of the book. It was not based upon any thorough reading and analyzing and hence it was very elementary in nature. Two months down the line, today am in a much better position to talk about the book as I have almost finished ‘My country My life’.

Frankly speaking it is a marathon read and I neither have the patience nor the temperament to finish it, so I went through all the chapters which I thought to be interesting and will be talking about some real issues about which all wants to know as to what this veteran politician has to say. The Jinnah controversy, the ‘Ram Rath Yatra’, his stint as the home minister and many other issues which were his brainchild and everyone wanted an insight into them.

As far as I can infer about it, the complete memoir is nothing more than a compilation of author’s explanations about everything [especially about why things didn’t went as he intended them to be]. Almost each and every politician does this, but this iron man of modern India was an exception to this league. However this time he blew it completely, a little self righteously he is trying to defend his position, his course of action, his policies, his everything. Why, someone please tell me?

It was not written to be just any memoir. Hardly any active politician and that too who is aspiring to be the Prime Minister in near future will take the chance of writing an autobiography, but he did. The book was and is perhaps, a part of the general election preparations, which Mr. Advani started very brilliantly. With the book he had planned a major image overhaul which he requires before setting foot in the 7 race course. He was sure of cleaning his image, clearing his position and steering away from all the issues and talks which have been an integral part of his political career.

Initially I also had the impression that after reading the book, the misconceptions about Mr. Advani which many people have will change. The most misunderstood person in this country, whose every action is scrutinised at every step to the heights and criticised beyond limits, will finally be understood. The preconceived notions people have about him which never allowed them to see beyond their limited sight will now be lost.

To put it bluntly, after finishing the book I found it to be a disappointment. In this attempt of clearing, he unintentionally over did things beyond imagination. The attempt was so desperate that things went out of control and this is not at all helping in the task. After reading the book, the reader thinks that there is actually something wrong this man did, and that’s why he is so desperately trying to prove his innocence at every step.

Am a great appreciator of Advani’s politics. The man understands what he is doing and undoubtedly he is one of the most successful politicians of India till date. The way he plan, improvise and executes his master strokes is beyond comparison. And if after reading the book someone like me can say this about this man, then I must say there is something seriously wrong with it.

The motive behind writing the book was to increase the following. The purpose of the book was to present a new face of Advani to people. The whole point behind the memoir was to put the campaign for general elections in the full swing [at the launch of the book’s website Mr. Advani himself acknowledged about it] although it will be responsible for loss of momentum. In fact the book completely fails in accomplishing any of its tasks and it does not even appear to be written to do so. But if it was, then this time ‘The Advani Code’ has gone terribly wrong.