The BJP’S prime ministerial candidate LK Advani on Friday appealed to Muslims, saying he was in no way related to or aware of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992.
In an article in Urdu on his website, according to PTI, he said: “We were unaware of what was happening. We appealed to the kar sevaks on the dome to get down.” He added: “Kya meri yatra Muslim mukhalif thi? Bilkul nahi (was my yatra against Muslims? No, never).”
He asked Muslims to consider “supreme national interests” and not get carried away by the “motivated” campaigns of any party while voting in the Lok Sabha polls. He said Opposition parties had tried to malign his Somnath-Ayodhya Rath Yatra of 1991 as being against Muslims. “No anti-Muslim or wrong word was uttered in my speeches. In fact, I used to stop those who chanted any wrong slogans,” he wrote.
Advani also gave the BJP’s poll campaign a new slogan: “Tum humein samarthan do, hum tumhe sushaasan denge (give us support, we promise you good governance).”
At a function to mark the 112th birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose, he said: “Netaji said to his countrymen ‘tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi doonga (give me blood and I promise you freedom)’. Times have changed, India has been azad (free) since 1947, we need to make different kinds of sacrifices.” He went on: “If I were to rephrase Netaji's clarion call, I would say the call of all nationalistic, forward-looking political leaders to the people of India should be ‘tum humein samarthan do, hum tumhe sushaasan denge’.”
{{/usCountry}}At a function to mark the 112th birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose, he said: “Netaji said to his countrymen ‘tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi doonga (give me blood and I promise you freedom)’. Times have changed, India has been azad (free) since 1947, we need to make different kinds of sacrifices.” He went on: “If I were to rephrase Netaji's clarion call, I would say the call of all nationalistic, forward-looking political leaders to the people of India should be ‘tum humein samarthan do, hum tumhe sushaasan denge’.”
{{/usCountry}}