Amid speculation that senior BJP leader lK Advani deliberately stayed away from party’s Goa meet to show his opposition over Narendra Modi’s elevation as chairman of the BJP poll campaign committee, the senior leader cancelled his Jaipur visit on Sunday to made it clear that he was indeed not keeping well.
As per the schedule, finalised in the middle of the last month, Advani was to reach Jaipur from Panaji late on Sunday afternoon after the conclusion of the BJP National Executive meeting. He was to participate in a function, organised by lalita Ashram Pranayas, founded by late Pandit Ram Dave, Advani’s school friend in Karachi. Both had studied and taught in Karachi during the pre-Partition days.
“Today in the morning, we got a call from Advani’s house that he was not keeping well and was unable to make it to Jaipur, though he was keen to attend the function connected with his old friend,” says Sanjay Kumar, one of the organisers of the function.
However, the senior BJP leader broke his silence on Sunday and said that this was the first time in his political carrier that he was unable to attend an important meeting of the party as he was not keeping well.
Addressing a function here, through video-conferencing, Advani said, “I was not keeping well for the past three days which compelled me not to move out from Delhi to attend the party’s meeting at Goa.”
As he was keen to speak at the function, the organisers arranged video-conferencing facilities for the audience.
In his brief address, Advani remembered Dave and the school at Karachi where they taught together. Advani also remembered how Dave and he had worked to expand the activities of the RSS in Karachi.
Advani said he was impressed by the vast Sanskrit knowledge of Dave and has only regret in life that he could not learn the ancient and classic language of the country.
Advani and Dave became active members of the RSS during their school days in Karachi. Both had also taught in a school there. Dave rose to become Karachi division Boudhik Pramukh of the RSS. After the Partition, both moved to Jaipur. Advani continued to remain as the RSS pracharak, whereas Dave joined a bank. Both remained in touch till the death of Dave. After retirement, Dave became State organising secretary of the VHP.
A Sanskrit scholar of repute, Dave wrote several books in Sanskrit and founded the Pranayas.
According to Sanjay Kumar, when Advani was approached to attend the function, he immediately agreed to address the same. It was decided that he would directly fly to Jaipur to attend the function.
“As for I know, a man like Advani would not cancel any of his programmes unless there are compelling reasons. If Advani would not have health problem, he would definitely had come to Jaipur,” he said.