When the Bihar government stopped L.K. Advani's rath yatra, it rocked the nation. And the government (V.P. Singh's) fell. An account of the BJP chief's arrest in Samastipur.
EXACTLY a week before the “Day” of October 30, the high-profile rath yatra which Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani was leading towards Ayodhya came to an end at Samastipur, Bihar, and Advani was arrested under the National Security Act.
Why was the rath yatra allowed to traverse the heartland of Bihar where the people are known to have strong religious susceptibilities? It is reported that a last-minute direction from V.P. Singh to permit the rath yatra to pass prevented a determined Bihar Chief Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, from carrying out his plan to stop the Rajdhani Express, by which Advani was travelling, on the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border itself and fly him to Patna in a helicopter and thereafter persuade him to go back to Delhi.
As the plan fell through, Advani and his rath began their scheduled journey from Dhanbad on the second leg of the yatra, traversing the tribal belt, central Bihar and Patna, receiving a rousing welcome along the route. Advani and the rath were welcomed with garlands and flowers by crowds, including women and children.
But it was in Patna that Advani received his biggest ovation, delaying his arrival at Gandhi Maidan, the venue of his meeting, where a mammoth gathering had waited for over four hours. In the medieval city Advani and his rath were met by crowds lining up both sides of the road to shower garlands, flowers and perfume on the convoy. According to observers, the turnout at the meeting was bigger than that at V.P. Singh’s October 8 rally. There were frenzied cheers and ecstatic chants of “Jai Shri Ram”.
In his speeches, Advani said his yatra had belied apprehensions of a communal flare-up and proved that Rama was a unifying figure in Indian society. His yatra was not politically motivated and the credit for its success did not go either to him or his party but to the overwhelming reverence of the people for Rama. It was the distorted conception of secularism inculcated by political leaders which had stood in the way of the minorities developing a truly national outlook. “It is shocking that in India, Hindus who constitute the majority population have to agitate for the construction of a temple and that too at the birthplace of Rama,” he said.

Lalu Prasad Yadav was ambivalent to arrest Advani in 1990: Ranjan Yadav

Thursday, 20 June 2013 - 9:44pm IST | Place: Patna | Agency: PTI

    While RJD President Lalu Prasad is trumpeting getting L K Advani arrested inBihar in 1990, his friend-turned foe Ranjan Yadav on Thursday claimed Prasad ambivalent and took the decision only when told his government would be dismissed by V P Singh if he fails to do so.
    "On the night of 23rd October 1990 around 01.30 in the midnight Lalu Prasad came to me to discuss what should be done as then PM V P Singh and Sharad Yadav were pressurising him to arrest Advani in Bihar. I told Prasad unless you arrest Advani your government would be dismissed," Ranjan Yadav said in a statement here.

    Lalu was ambivalent to arrest Advani: Ranjan Yadav

    PTI Jun 20, 2013, 07.58PM IST
    PATNA: While RJD President Lalu Prasad is trumpeting getting L K Advani arrested in Bihar in 1990, his friend-turned foe Ranjan Yadav today claimed Prasad was ambivalent and took the decision only when told his government would be dismissed by V P Singh if he fails to do so.
    "On the night of 23rd October 1990 around 01.30 in the midnight Lalu Prasad came to me to discuss what should be done as then PM V P Singh and Sharad Yadav were pressurising him to arrest Advani in Bihar. I told Prasad unless you arrest Advani your government would be dismissed," Ranjan Yadav said in a statement here.





    L. K. Advani's mention of 1990 arrest in Jan Chetna Yatra helps Lalu Prasad

    Giridhar Jha   |   Mail Today  |   Patna, October 14, 2011 | UPDATED 16:02 IST
     
    Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart L. K. Advani's frequent mention of his arrest during the rath yatra in 1990 by the erstwhile Lalu Prasad government in Bihar has left the RJD gloating in the state.
    The arrest had catapulted Lalu into the national political scene and brought him popularity among the minorities. The RJD now thinks that Advani is only helping Lalu's cause by harping on the 21-year-old episode during his ongoing Jan Chetna Yatra.
    At almost all his rallies since kickstarting his nationwide yatra at Sitab Diara in Bihar on Monday, Advani reminisced: "The then CM (Lalu) got me arrested during my yatra and put me at Masanjore in Dumka district… But the incumbent chief minister (Nitish) has flagged off my yatra."
    The RJD does not seem to mind Advani's bid to refresh the memory of the people, especially of the minorities. "Advani ji is talking about his arrest in Bihar, which we should have mentioned," RJD's principal general secretary Ram Kripal Yadav said. "This will remind the secular forces about Lalu ji's long-standing commitment to fight against the communal forces."
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    There is more good news for the RJD in the form of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi posting blogs on the same issue. "Modi also talked about Nitish's decision to flag off Advani's yatra in the same state where Lalu had got him arrested," Yadav said.
    He pointed out that all this would remind the people how Lalu had put his government at risk by taking Advani into custody.