New Delhi: BJP leader LK Advani on Wednesday
attacked the Congress saying the Indira Gandhi government
"stole the freedom" of people by announcing Lok Sabha polls on
this day 35 years ago, but could not "destroy" their hope.
In his latest blog posting, he said for all lovers of
democracy in India, January 18 cannot be forgotten.
"It marked the beginning of the end of the darkest
chapter in the history of Indian democracy. On this day in
1977, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided to hold
the Lok Sabha elections which were due to be held in 1976, but
which by virtue of the Emergency, had been deferred," he said.
Quoting from his book "A Prisoner`s Scrap-book", Advani
said just before leaving jail he was handed a heap of letters,
mostly Christmas and new year cards, not delivered to him
earlier.
He said on one of the cards, the sender had written that
`they can steal your freedom but can`t take your hope.`
"Yes, they stole the freedom of 600 millions, but they
just could not destroy their hope," he said.
"In the elections held in March, 1977, the people of
India asserted themselves, and restored Democracy, which had
come under eclipse for nineteen months," he wrote.
In his blog, Advani also praised a book `Encyclopedia of
Hinduism` saying the 11-volume proved that Hinduism is deeply
and widely interpretative.
He said the inspiration for the book came about following
a Sahasra Shivalinga Abhishekam at the Hindu-Jain Temple in
Pittsburgh, USA in 1987 and the India Heritage Research
Foundation was formed to execute the idea.
PTI
