Petty politics has brought two major disreputes to Samastipur: the murder of Lalit Narayan Mishra and the arrest of Lal Krishna Advani.
Akhileshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, an 80-year-old, made this observation while recalling the incident in which Lal Krishna Advani was arrested from the Circuit House in Samastipur, Bihar, on the intervening night of 22nd and 23rd October 1990. Originally from Siwan, Singh was a history professor at Ram Nirikshan Atma Ram College, Samastipur (RNAR College Samastipur) at that time. He also served as the president of the BJP in Samastipur.
Speaking to OpIndia, Singh said that due to age, he has now started to forget old things. However, he still remembers the anger that was prevalent among the common people of Samastipur at that time, after Advani’s arrest. Professor Sharda Sinha says that even today, that anger fills her with thrill. Sinha has also been a history professor at Samastipur Women’s College. Currently, she resides with her daughter in Mohali, Punjab.
Professor Sharda Sinha recounts that upon hearing the news of Advani’s arrest, a large number of women took to the streets in Samastipur on the morning of October 23, 1990. Sinha herself left her two young children at home and ran to the Circuit House. She told OpIndia, “It was the day of Kharna. I was going to celebrate Chhath for the first time. The women decided that they would not go home. They would celebrate Chhath at the Circuit House itself. After this, the administration was left helpless.”
Confirming Sinha’s statement, Akhileshwar Prasad Singh added that there was a litchi orchard beside the Circuit House at that time. In it, there was a pond where women had decided to celebrate Chhath. However, after the persuasion of BJP leader Kailashpati Mishra, the women agreed to return home.
According to Singh, at that time, the means of communication were not as advanced as they are today. Those who heard the news of Advani’s arrest rushed to the Circuit House, wanting to break its gate. Following his arrest, Advani was taken from the Circuit House to the guest house at Masanjore Dam in Dumka by helicopter. Subsequently, people’s anger intensified. Kailashpati Mishra then announced a meeting at Patel Maidan.
Recalling that gathering, Sinha recounts, “At 8 in the morning, people had gathered in Samastipur city as if there was a rally. Kailashpati Mishra pacified the crowd at Patel Maidan’s meeting. He mentioned that both governments (Bihar and Central) want something to happen so that the BJP could be defamed, and tarnished. Only after this people were pacified. Women went back home to prepare for Kharna. However, for several days thereafter, there was simmering unrest in the city of Samastipur regarding this matter. People were angered by Advani’s arrest.”
When Advani was arrested, it is worth mentioning that V.P. Singh led the central government, and Lalu Prasad Yadav was in power in Bihar. Advani had embarked on a Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya on 25th September 1990. However, before reaching his destination, late on the night of October 22, he was arrested from the Circuit House in Samastipur.
Recalling the anger that arose from the decision of the Bihar government, Professor Sharda Sinha mentions, “It is impossible to imagine what people would have done if they had met Lalu Yadav at that time. People were saying that this is a ‘parachhut’ (despicable) government. It has to pay the price.”
According to Akhileshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, Advani was supposed to arrive in Samastipur from Hajipur on the 22nd of October. However, he reached the Circuit House around 1 AM. After that, he was arrested. He explains that there was significant enthusiasm among the people at that time regarding Advani’s Rathyatra. The society was uniting as Hindus. Samastipur stayed awake the entire night in anticipation of Advani’s arrival.
He said that seeing rising discontent among the public, the administration lodged BJP workers and activists who were led by Kailashpati Mishra in buses and took them to Muzaffarpur. After showing their arrest, they were released. However, this did not calm people’s anger. In protest against this incident, people continued to surrender themselves for arrest for the next one or two days.
It is noteworthy that Advani’s Rath Yatra was scheduled to reach Ayodhya on 30th October. Although Advani was arrested, and the rath yatra halted, the yatra ensured that the Ram Janmabhoomi Mukti (liberation) Andolan reached every household. People’s devotions were so attached that some even used to apply soil from the place where the chariot passed by onto their foreheads as a mark of devotion.
When Advani was arrested, he was accompanied by Narendra Modi
While Lal Krishna Advani was leading the Rathyatra from Somnath to Ayodhya, Narendra Modi was its charioteer. Narendra Modi is the current Prime Minister of Bharat since 2014. Meanwhile, at that time Modi was the organisational general secretary of the Gujarat BJP. Notably, Modi came into prominence at the national level through this Rath Yatra.
Even when Advani was arrested in Samastipur, Modi was with him. However, only Advani was arrested and taken to the guest house in Dumka. Professor Sharda told OpIndia, “When Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, people had said that he was also with Advani at the time of his arrest. But I do not know whether he had come to Samastipur or not. I was neither inside the Circuit House nor was Modi so popular at that time. I still remember Advani gesturing his arrest with his hand.”
Akhileshwar Prasad Narayan Singh said, “We did not recognize him at that time. But Modi ji was also with him. This fact came to light when Modi established himself in politics. However, we did not recognize him at that time.”
In his book ‘Yudh Mein Ayodhya’, Journalist Hemant Sharma has also written about Narendra Modi’s role in this Rath Yatra. He has described Modi as the strategist and architect of this journey. According to Sharma, it was Modi who was the first to formally give information regarding the route and program of the yatra on 13 September 1990. It is said that the only person who had the information about this yatra was Modi. Some information was later shared with Advani.
In the book ‘Narendra Modi: Ek Shakhsiyat, Ek Daur’, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay quotes Modi as saying, “This experience gave me an opportunity to develop my management abilities.”
Recently, Former Deputy PM LK Advani recalling the Rath Yatra stated, “At that time (in September 1990, a few days after the yantra began) I felt destiny had decided that one day a grand Ram temple would be built in Ayodhya. Now it is only a matter of time. And, a few days after the ‘rath yatra’ began, I realised I was just a ‘charioteer.’ The main messenger of the Rath Yatra was the chariot itself and was worthy of worship because it was going to Shri Ram’s birthplace Ayodhya to fulfill the sacred purpose of building the temple.”
Heaping praise at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he referred to PM Modi as “the devotee chosen by Lord Ram to renovate his temple” for overseeing the construction of the sacred place.
Advani and Modi taught Dharma is politics
For decades, the politics in independent India has been dominated by the group that nurtured the politics of appeasement. They wanted to remove the idol of Ram Lalla from Ayodhya. For them Iftar is secularism. This Jamaat also vigorously promoted the idea that religion should be kept away from politics. But this idea ruined the country. Distorted secularism. Here, it is important to note that religion is not the same as Dharma.
Both Dharma and politics aim to establish good governance. The Rath Yatra of Advani and Modi showed India that Dharma and politics are complementary to each other and not hostile to each other. They showed that Dharma should be at the heart of politics.
It is our good fortune that today’s India is moving forward with that idea. It is the good fortune of that tradition that has ensured that on 22 January 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the host of the consecration of Ram Lalla at Bhagya Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and Lal Krishna Advani, the Bhishma Pitamah of today’s Indian politics, will be its witness.
