My Country My Life

My Country My Life

is an autobiography written my former deputy prime minister of India, Lal Krishan Advani.

Now politics in urban India is seen from different perspectives. The middle class students getting good higher degrees see it with disdain.

Youth, in politics are being welcomed, and applauded, with the point easily being ignored that almost all these scions of previous politicians are foreign educated and have a hell lot of money.

Then, there is the general public which considers most of the politicians as shady people. Who are just corrupt and manipulators. And there are innumerable examples why the feeling is like that.

It is in this backdrop, I recommend all my friends and followers of my writings to read My Country My Life. For, according to me, how many politicians can actually vouch for or write a 900+ page book about the work they have done. Or about their backgrounds. (A large number of politicians have criminal records these days and equally large have become quite rich overnight). Heaven forbids, the truth of Indian politics never comes out of the closet.
Because truth is generally bitter, but this type of truth, will cause people around the globe to lose hope for humanity. Such is the state of Indian politics.

Mr. L.K. Advani's book has a lot of errors. Mostly grammatical or numerical errors. I failed to understand, why the publisher, Rupa&Co. could not get a good editor for the book. Other than that, it is a great read. For Mr. Advani has been involved in one form or another in every general election since Independence till date. His experience is vast and knowledge immense. The Indian media which is by and large biased towards the Indian National Congress, always showed him as some sort of a demon who always shout Hindutva. But that same media had to concede at times, that Advani was perhaps one of the best Home Ministers India had after Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

So, his book clears all the doubts over Ayodhya issue. His idea of a spiritual nation is also good. If Vajpayee would be remembered for his vision and oratory, Advani should be remembered as a scholarly politician. In his book, he talks about the vast number of books he has read, ( and taken reference from for his book). His understanding on issues, the real issues that plague the Indian society today has a lot of depth.

Reading this book, I could connect with the Hindutva issue, which the media laughs about and demonizes. Someone who is averse to vote bank politics, I found a good amount of examples that illustrate how, the BJP is wrongly accused of being a communal party.

Although I disagreed on certain points made by Mr. Advani, as a whole, I have come to respect the man, a lot more and would be always be thankful to him for sharing his experience with us.

At least there is one politician of modern times to come out and talk about his life and what really he has done. He built his career from a scratch and rose to such high position in social life and that is inspiring in itself. He changed the political scene of India which was dominated by a single party rule, by building his party into being a worthy alternative.

Do read the book. It is about your country and your life too.