By IANS,
Bhopal : Recalling the Emergency rule, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Monday criticised the Congress party and ridiculed its stance on the demand for a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Advani was addressing a gathering at the Motilal Nehru stadium after the launch of the Hindi edition of his autobiography, “My Country My Life”. The hindi version, “Mera Desh Mera Jeevan”, was released by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar in the presence of yoga guru Swami Ramdev.
Both Sri Sri Ravishankar and Swami Ramdev described Advani, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, as a selfless man who can lead the nation to new heights.
Advani recalled the Emergency rule of 1975-77 and said leaders like Jayprakash Narayan and former prime ministers Morarji Desai and Chandrashekhar were put behind the bars and were not even allowed to ask the reasons for their imprisonment.
“When we tried to find out why we were put in jails, what was our crime; we were told that the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) provides the government the privilege not to tell the reason behind the arrest of person,” he said.
Commenting on the movement for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said: “Few people would know that the first government of independent India lead by Jawaharlal Nehru took the decision to reconstruct the Somnath temple in Gujarat when Sardar Patel proposed it. If the Nehru government could do it, why the government lead by Rajiv Gandhi and others could not do it (in Ayodhya).”