I am pleased to be writing this Foreword to the memoirs of my longtime colleague Shri L.K. Advani. Advaniji’s autobiography, suitably titled My Country My Life, closely follows the main events of independent India, including the tragedy of Partition that accompanied the joy of freedom from the British rule. Thus, it allows readers to learn both about him and, to some extent, also about the extraordinary times he has lived in.

Advaniji was born in Karachi and lived in Sindh for the first twenty years of his life. Like millions of people on both sides of the bloodied border between India and Pakistan, he too was uprooted from his home province and became a refugee. It is a testimony to the innate strength of his personality and character that he surmounted this adversity, just as he would overcome many other adversities in his life, to relentlessly pursue his chosen path. Even before this great tragedy struck he had devoted his life to the selfless service of our Motherland by becoming a pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It is these qualities of commitment, devotion, and determination to face all odds in the course of serving the nation, which have characterised Advaniji’s life.

Advaniji has been my friend and comrade-in-arms ever since he started working for the Bharatiya Jana Sangh over fifty years ago. When I look back, I see him in a multitude of roles ? as the young secretary of the fledgling parliamentary wing of our party when I was first elected to
the Lok Sabha in 1957; as a disciplined organiser of the party’s Delhi unit where it achieved some of its initial successes in the country; as an erudite journalist with Organiser; as one who assisted Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and, later, me, in building the party in a most difficult period in its history; as a fighter for democracy and fellow-prisoner during the Emergency; as an associate who, along with me, experienced both, the joy of the formation of the Janata Party government, and the frustration of its early fall; as one who helped me found the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which grew from strength to strength to become a viable alternative to the Congress party; as one who assisted me in forging the National Democratic Alliance (NDA); and as my able deputy in steering the ship of the nation for six years. Yes, we have had our differences on issues and approaches during the course of our long association as it is not possible for two individuals to always have an identical response while working together for over a half century within an organization. However, it is not the differences, but the unity of purpose and action, that marked our relationship. Divergence of viewpoints never led to discord; neither did they become a cause for division. This is because our party, in both the Jana Sangh and in the BJP phases of our political journey, was rooted in the ethos of working together for a larger common objective. I consider that philosophy to be the primary reason why the BJP has remained united, an exception in India, where organisational fissures have sadly been a regular feature in our political history.

This ethos of camaraderie is something that, according to me, needs to be zealously preserved and further strengthened in the BJP, as it charts its future course of development. The self-imposed discipline of never taking differences beyond the ‘Laxman Rekha’ of what is good for the party and the nation is the most reliable guarantor of success in the long term. Indeed, going a step further, I would add that the philosophy of working together needs to be imbibed by all our political and non-political organisations and made a strong cultural trait of our national life. It has become a fundamental requirement for strengthening our proudly cherished democratic system and making it immune to the often debilitating pulls and pressures of politics in the era of coalitions. It is also an imperative for fully realising the potential for India’s socio-economic development, so that the needs and aspirations of each member of our billion-plus population can be fulfilled.

India is a vast nation with immense diversities. We must accept and respect these diversities in the social and political life. However, India’s progress, and its ability to successfully confront the challenges of the present and the future, depend crucially on the degree to which we are able to construct a unity that transcends diversity and, indeed, transforms it into a source of vitality. Our national unity should not be weakened by following a flawed concept of secularism. Advaniji has made an enduring contribution to a vigorous public debate on genuine secularism and the main roots of our nationhood.

During the course of his long, and inarguably eventful, political life, Advaniji has, at times, been misunderstood and as a result become a victim of the dichotomy between image and reality. This has been known to those who have worked or interacted with him closely. He has never compromised on his core belief in nationalism, and yet has displayed flexibility in political responses whenever it was demanded by the situation. Above all, he has an open mind that always absorbs new ideas from diverse sources, a quality that has been nurtured by his lifelong love for books. I have always been amazed at how he manages to keep this hobby alive, in spite of devoting so much time to public life. Even at this age, he travels tirelessly, addresses party and public forums, campaigns, reads …and writes.

Through this book, Advaniji has now added another special accomplishment to his political life. In India, we do not have a deep-rooted tradition of prominent figures in public life writing their autobiographies. I am certain that My Country My Life will be read widely, and with keen interest, by people from diverse backgrounds. For mirrored in this book is the remarkable journey of a sensitive human being and an outstanding leader whose best, I hope and pray, is yet to come.