My Country My Life

by L.K. Advani; Foreword By Atal Bihari Vajpayee

My Country My Life is an autobiographical book by L. K. Advani, an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004, and was the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha. The book was released on 19 March 2008 by Abdul Kalam, the eleventh President of India. The book has 1,040 pages and narrates autobiographical accounts and events in the life of Advani. It became the best seller book in the non-fiction category and Advani joined Archer as a bestseller author. The book website claims the book sold an excess of 1,000,000 copies. The book alongside mentions the event in Indian politics and India's history from 1900 till date.

Genres: Biography, India, Politics, History, Autobiography, Nonfiction, Indian Literature

986 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Shrilatha · Rating 4 out of 5]

found it an interesting read. my reason for picking this book was that, i didn't know much about the history of independent india - things like partition, emergency, etc. and this book certainly has been a good starting point for me. his coverage of emergency n specially the first non-congress govt, n reasons why it fell apart - is pretty good. and there is good content about the birth of the first rath yatra. and the ayodhya chapter is extremely interesting!

now, i'm no advani fanatic. and i agree the book is biased at times (i expected it to be, it's his version after all) but if u have little brains, in spite of seeing the events from his viewpoint, you can see it in your own way.

as i said, i didn't pick this book to see how good or bad advani is.. i picked it for my own education. and it certainly helped.

[Alok Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a party called BJP and about a person called L K Advani. For the readers who are interested in politics and would like to know more about the phenomenon known as Bharatiya Janta Party that came into the mainstream of Indian politics are welcome to read this book. Advani has not commented as someone from the outside, observing things from a neutral perspective, he has rather been very much into describing things like he lived those.

[Arun · Rating 5 out of 5]

The version from right ideology never gets its due in left dominated Indian history. Must read!

[Vadassery Rakesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a piece from history of India, rather a sad part. The melancholy of a person who lost his roots owing to strange political wisdom of some, refelcts not only in his writing but in his political philosophy also. Gives the impression that this man is a much misunderstood man, who is mistakenly called a Hawk.

[Sidharth Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well written autobiography by Shri Lal Krishna Advani ji - our country's 7th Deputy Prime Minister (he was the deputy PM during Shri Atal Bijari Vajpayee ji's Prime Ministership) and one of the founding pillars of the Bharatiya Janata Party alongwith Vajpayee ji.

This is a 942 page book, but the content and the writing style is so gripping that I could finish it within 15 days.

He chronicles his fascinating journey from Karachi (yes, for those who do not know he was born there on 8 Nov, 1927) to the highest echelons of the Government of India. He joined RSS as a Swayamsevak at the age of 14 years. He writes about the influence of books on his early patriotic feelings alongwith the discussions that he had with the seniors he met at his shakha and the spiritual discourses he attended. He had to move to India during partition to evade arrest, took a flight to Delhi (his first flight).

Upon moving to India he took upon the activities of the RSS in Alwar district of Rajasthan and later when the stalwart Shri Syama Prasad Mookerjee setup the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Dr Mookerjee was a great leader with impeccable nationalist credentials who was inducted into the first GoI cabinet on the insistence of the Mahatma. In the first conference of the the Jana Sangh held in February 1953, the nationalist and a very famous slogan was coined, which we also heard recently quite a lot during the abolishment of Article 370 in J&K - "Ek desh me do vidhan, do pradhan aur do nishaan, nahin chalenge, nahi chalenge". Unfortunately at that point of time, there were separate flags and constitution for the state and the President of India also had no authority over J&K. The other stalwart for the Jana Sangh was Shri Deendayal Upadhayaya ji whose philosophy on integral humanism is something that everyone must read (a summary from the internet- https://swarajyamag.com/blogs/explain...). The thoughts and the organisational skills of Deendayal ji played a pivotal role in the growth of the Jana Sangh.

The book then describes the movement of Advaniji to Delhi to assist Atal ji and other Jana Sangh MPs who had been elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1957 elections. It also describes his role as the Assistant Editor of Organiser, a job he took up in 1960. After 2 decades of the formation of the Jana Sangh Advani ji became its President in the 1972 session. The book then describes how Lok Nayak Shri Jayaparakash Narayan ji brought together almost all non-Congress parties on a single platform to protest against the Congress rule and the corruption at large during the same. Then the Allahbad High Court's ruling against the validity of the Smt Indira Gandhi's election led to Indira Gandhi unleashing emergency on the country on 25 June, 1975. As a result of the same Advani ji alongwith several stalwarts from the opposition were imprisoned for 19 months. The imposition of emergency was an extremely sad time for the country wherein the Prime Minister effectively became unaccountable to the judiciary. The book sheds light on the role played by the legendary Nani Palkhivala in defending the sanctity of the constitution of India against the attempt made by Indira Gandhi in the Supreme Court of India to make structural amendments to the Constitution of India. The ending of the emergency led to the formation of the first non-Congress Government, with Shri Morarji Desai ji as its Prime Minister and Advani ji handling the Information and Broadcasting portfolio. Post the infighting in the Janata Government the party fell out of power. Subsequent events in the Janata Party led to the Jana Sangh members leaving the party over the issue of dual membership.

The Jana Sangh members then formed the Bharatiya Janata Party in April 1980, under the leadership of Vajpayee ji. The party was based on the principles of integral humanism and Gandhian socialism. Advani ji took over the Presidentship of the party in May 1986. The book then covers the party's meteoric rise through the 1980s and 1990s predominantly based on the Party's principled stance on several issues predominantly based on nationalism with a concern for all and preference for none. The book then describes the Ayodhya issue in detail and how Advaniji took a rath yatra for the same. The primary reason for the BJP to join was the inconsistency of the various other political parties in relation to the demand of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. Advani ji took several yatras - Swarna Jayanti yatra, Bharat Uday yatra and Bharat Suraksha yatra. He has a fundamental belief in the power of yatras in helping drive a mass connect.

All these yatras were possible for him because of his impeccable health and his idealism - which always kept his belief in the mission and his spirits high. He stresses a lot on the importance of health for any cause that one has to undertake. His time in RSS during his early years helped him develop a good health and a resilient body. An anecdote - he once walked 45 kms in 10 hours to reach a place because of lack of transport and he had to undertake several such walkathons in his youth!

As the BJP captured the collective conscious of a majority of Indians, his illustrious journey also progressed. He went on to become the Home Minister and then the Deputy Prime Minister in Vajpayee ji's Government. He shared how he drew inspiration from Saradar Vallabhai Patel ji who was the first Home Minister of India and a map of India that constantly encouraged him to work for the overall security of the country as her Home Minister. He has shared very detailed accounts of the work done by the Home Ministry on several fronts - police force modernisation, one border one force concept so that a given portion of the border is not manned by multiple para-military forces, expanding the purview of Economic Intelligence Council, Central Economic Intelligence bureau to uncover the financial nexuses at play at a global level to finance terrorism, all internal security operations were delegated to the Intelligence Bureau. His Home Ministership was the time when the Kargil war happened, IC-814 was hijacked, 9/11 and 13/12 happened. The book sheds light on the important administrative, military and diplomatic steps taken by the NDA Government to tackle such grave threats. It is through the persistence of Advani ji that Dawood Ibrahim was declared a global terrorist and Abu Salem was deported to India. Not being able to get Dawood deported back to India remains one of the disappointments of Advani ji. The book then touches upon the Kashmir issue and apart from helping the reader understand the steps taken by the NDA Government helps in understanding the missteps that caused us to reach here. As Home Minister, he was always appreciated for his sincerity in dealing with all the stake holders in Kashmir. The Hurriyat leaders were also positively impacted by his commitment and straightforwardness. This coupled with the fact that the Vajpayee Government held one of the most fair J&K Assembly elections in 2002 helped the situation a lot. The book then touches upon the Naxal issue and the infiltration happening from Bangladesh which has caused issues in the North-East. It provides an overview of the steps taken by the Vajpayee Government to tackle these.

The book touches upon how Advani ji groomed the next crop of BJP leaders such as Narendra Modi ji, Sushma Swaraj ji, late Pramod Mahajan ji and Arun Jaitley ji.

The book touches upon the reasons why the NDA Government lost in 2004 elections and how Advani ji again took the Presidentship of the Party as Mr Venkaiah Naidu resigned taking full responsibility of the debacle. He then went on to Pakistan while he was the President of BJP and helped normalise the ties between the two countries, as well as focus on the rights of the minorities in Pakistan. His appreciation of a speech on secularism by Jinnah earned him ire from several folks within India, but he stood his ground. If one reads the speech it is very clear that the speech actually focuses on the right concept of secularism which Jinnah himself was not able to bring to life for Pakistan. As always Advani ji took the high ground resigned from the Party Presidentship, however stood his ground on his appreciation of the contents of the speech. Several folks in the media appreciated his stand and his steadfastness in his beliefs, something that has always been appreciated about him.

Advani ji has dedicated an entire chapter to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Atal Bihari Vajpayee - a statesman with a poetic soul), who was an integral part of Advani ji's political life right from inception. He is very appreciative of his idealism, his love for the nation, his outstanding oratory and command over Hindi, his articulation skills, his basic decency, humility and sensitivity.

The book sheds light on various important events in India's history from gaining independence (which was accompanied by partition), the 1962 war with China, the 1965 war with Pakistan, the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, the unfortunate period of Emergency, the formation of the first non-Congress Government at the center, the terrorism in Punjab, the rath yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya, NDA forming the Government at the center, the Pokhran-2 nuclear tests, the Kargil war, the Lahore bus yatra undertaken by Shri Vajpayee ji, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Indian Parliament, the early elections called in 2004, and Advani ji's visit to Pakistan in 2005.

As far his hobbies are concerned reading books, watching plays and movies have been the major ones whenever he could find time from his extremely busy schedule. These allowed him to escape into another world and reading especially enabled him to gather insights and helped him increase his knowledge and strengthened his beliefs as a result of the stronger foundation on which to base them.

The book also sheds light on his family members, how his two children have remained away from politics and how his wife Kamala was the pillar of the house, shouldering all the responsibilities as he took upon more and more important roles for the country.

Upon reading the entire book, one gets to know that Advani ji has been able to have such a long and on almost all parameters immensely productive journey because of his idealism, his core belief in nationalism, his spiritual inclinations, his steadfastness and his health.

The book is a must read for anyone interested in India's history since Independence, for anyone concerned about the country, the state of political affairs in the country, and for anyone wanting to understand BJP's growth which can be summed by these two lines of Vajpayee ji

Haar nahin manoonga, Raar nayi thanoongha
Kaal ke kapaal par likhata-mitaata hoon, Geet naya gaata hoon

Upon reading the two lines, one appreciates that these two lines very aptly describe also the very wonderful journey of Shri Advani ji.

[S.Ach · Rating 3 out of 5]

LK Advani's life is India's history of last 80+ years. The grand old man of Indian politics has been in the thick of things throughout his life, playing a pivotal role both in the opposition and in the Government and, in my opinion, single-handedly brought BJP to the position it is now, through his (in)famous Rath Yatra that made Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute a pan-India movement.

LK Advani was born in the Sindh region, now in Pakistan, migrated to India after the partition. He was 20 when India got independence, however, from his writings, I couldn't find any significant contribution of him as an early RSS volunteer and activist, in the independence movement. His writings also missed to provide any tragic narration of the partition. His early political career seemed pretty uneventful and unimpressive despite he being a Rajya Sabha MP from 1970, jailed during the Emergency and being a minister in the first non-Congress Government. However, the real rise of Advani and to that effect BJP came from his famous Rath Yatra in the early 90s that led to the Ayodhya movement which ended with the demolition of the Babri Masjid, altering the fabric of Indian politics forever. After that neither Advani, nor his party looked back. Advani rose and rose in stature, holding his highest position of the deputy Prime Minister in his long term friend, colleague Atal Bihari's cabinet.

India's post-independent history has been pre-dominantly written by left-leaning Nehruvian historians. So, my main motivation in picking up Advani's auto-biography was to understand the 'decent' perspective of the right.
As an activist - India's independence movement and Partition, in the opposition Emergency and non-congress government, as a party president - Ayodhya Movement, and finally as the home minister Kargil War, Pokhran, Kandahar, Parliament attack, Godhra - what a tumultuous, yet interesting life.
I wish could say the same about the book.
My peeve against the book was - I felt that Advani was not honest in narrating his life history.
I can understand the reason though. The book was written in early 2008, while after the set-back of 2004 election, Advani was still trying to project himself as the next Prime-Minister of India for the election to be held next year, and he wouldn't write anything that could subvert his chance. But, sadly, it made the book so much shallow for a reader. It seemed that he had tried to justify many of his history-altering actions and decisions, with lots of motherhood statements as a typical politician.

Reading history from a historian and from a politician are different. A historian can plainly narrate an event as an outsider probably with multiple perspectives with his bias, but as a lawmaker, or an activist who is in the center of the event, would provide an insider's views, the reasons, the negotiations, the psyches, that clearly are not visible to an outside observer. However, in case of this book, especially for the more controversial issues, Advani has resorted to platitudes already available in public domain, than providing his honest perspective or insider scoop. The Ayodhya movement was underplayed, the Kandahar incident is rather brushed under the carpet, the government action during Godhra aftermath incident was somehow whitewashed. Also, his silence about many other contentious issues, and many of his colleagues and opponents, really suspicious.

I wanted to read a memoir and not a selective chronicle of Indian history.
Also, I think, Advaniji lost a great chance of redemption.

[Prabhat sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Country: My Life: Lal Krishan Advani : Autobiography- Lal Krishan Advani’s autobiography is a description of his childhood in Sindh and about 60 years of active political life for democracy in Jan Sangh, Bharatiya Janta Party. He remained an active Shakha of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh in his area. Before partition in 1947, he had come to India and was projected to work at the national level of the Party. He has mentioned details about history of Sindi class, King Dahar and later kings. About RSS in Sind, his sense of belonging to the land of his birth and the trauma faced by millions of Indians after transfer of power and division of the country by creation of Pakistan. He has also narrated the socio-political changes and developments in the country and his work at the grass-root level of Jan Sangh and later about the political evolution of the countrymen. During 22 months of (1975- 1977) promulgation of Emergency, he was jailed and his fight against such law and for restoration of democracy his been well described. For construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Rath Yatra performed by him and how the masses welcomed and reacted to his effort has been described. During Parliamentary election, his party succeeded and Atal Behari Vajpayee was elected Prime Minister by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) while Advani was sworn as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister to the Government between 1998 and 2004. In the Book there is a lot of preaching of RSS ideology which distracts the reader. Wherever there is continuity of narration of political events, the Book engrosses the reader to the contents. It is a worth reading autobiography.

[Bharath · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read about India. This book delves not only into the life of Advaniji but also looks into India right from independence to the present. A great book for readers who want to know about India after 1947. Remember our history books stop at 1947. Only a few books such as this one goes beyond 1947. As an Indian I feel proud about India and at the same time feel there is lot more work to do.

[Prasoon Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

India will always be indebted to him for single-handedly turning a democratic monarchy to a bipolar democracy.
About the book: an exceptional compendium of the post-1947 history of India by an 'active' politician.

[Anuj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book !

[Nirav Parekh · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is a Patriot.

[Prayas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Sparsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books of political personalities I have read today. One thing I must notice is that Mr. Advani has been thoroughly very candid and honest while writing this book. He has treaded upon good times and also bad times. One thing he says after 2004 defeat is we have come from a long way from 2 mps to 180 mps, and the path travelled we have lost more than we have won. This book also states his impeccable honesty and commitment to Atal Bihari Vajpayee leadership.
It as a interesting account right from the freedom on 1947 to 2008. All the political journey has been covered and a much eye opener.
It describe how a small party like BJP which won 2 seats in 1980 has come a long way today to be mammoth among all parties. It is due to the leadership and tireless attitude of such personality.
Also one thing to be noted is that I have completed this book in 2020, when country is under the leadership of Narendra Modi who turns out to be student and find of Lk Advani. He has not only made some of not so real dreams of his predecessors come true but indeed achieved them on his own terms like article 370, triple talak , Ram mandie issue, chief of defence staff, addressing the problem of Bangladeshis in north east among all. I think that Mr Advani is truly lucky that he in his life time can see all his ultimate dreams come true.

It’s a long read but it teaches you about the character of India a long deal. How a refugee grew up to top political heights is an interesting journey in itself. He is not only respected in India but In a hostile nation like Pakistan too.
Though it would had been interesting to see him as our prime minister but his legacy has been better handled by Narendra Modi.

[Anurag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whenever an elite writes an auto-biography before the final retirement, he does it to gain something with the contents of the book and same can be said about this book by L.K. Advani. The person becomes aware of the fallout of the book and that is why keeps from so called controversial topics thus depriving readers of what otherwise would have been a tell-all tale. Even then I found this book very interesting as it tells the story after Indian independence from right's perspective as you feel most of the time that Indian intelligentsia has leftward leaning. So this was a good break from that.
One should read this book they want to follow the rise of a political party which was reduced to two seats in Parliament after 1984's general elections. In that rise, Advani played a major part. So this book gives a fist hand account of events. You might have wanted to read about the events such as Indian Airlines plane abduction, events in Kashmir and North-east etc. Advani describes them as they happened during his tenure.

Read my full review here.

[Samuel Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a book of man who has travelled closely in indian history since the time of independence and has seen indian growth story of democracy in close quarters. He himself has participated and contributed to the emergence of India. many of those moments of history of India being told in a perspective of his beliefs and surely a heart which panted for the emergence of India. The book reveals hearts of people who longed and saw vision for India. the post 90 era and the pangs of issues of those days and the issues that faced the BJP leadership. Excellent read !

[Rakesh Rana · Rating 4 out of 5]

आडवाणी जी की शानदार जीवन गाथा है यह

किंडल के द्वारा यह किताब पढ़ने का अनुभव शानदार रहा है तथा इस प्रकार की अन्य किताबें भी हमें पढ़ने को मिले यही

[Nishu Thakur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely biography.

[Joseph Dolphin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lal Kishenchand Advani, more popularly known as Lal Krishna Advani is the architect that led the Bharatiya Janata Party from humble beginnings in 1980 to power in 1998. A party attaining power in a multi-party democracy is nothing new or noteworthy. Advani’s real mettle lies in transforming Indian democracy that centred on the Congress in a unipolar system into a bipolar polity in line with true democratic norms. His mesmerizing leadership helped the BJP to shed its image as a communal outfit which was shunned by the so called secular parties. He was straightforward in attaining this because he didn’t put the party’s core ideology on the backburner at any stage. Nehru is sometimes credited with moulding Indian democracy in its infancy. In the same vein, Indian democracy must thank Advani for guiding it towards its maturity as a true two-party system. He did all the dirty work for the party while the moderates sat idle, polishing their masks. It must have been a tremendous moment of achievement for the aged leader to see his party in power after a mere 12 years subsequent to its shockingly poor show in the 1984 elections with only 2 seats in Parliament. He presents his life dedicated to the service of the motherland from his birth in Karachi in today’s Pakistan till the day when he introspects on his past life after his party was unexpectedly ousted from power in 2004. Six decades of Advani’s political life coincides with that of the country after independence and in this sense, the book is a summary of Indian politics till 2008.

Advani is totally devoted to and adores Sindh, the province from which his family had to flee in 1947 to escape religious persecution. Pre-independence Sindh is said to be a place full of communal harmony between all religions. People used to visit the holy places of all religions without any discrimination or reduced ardour. Sindh’s strong Sufi tradition was a determining factor in this kind of marked syncretism. Advani’s family was particularly devoted to a Sufi saint Sain Qutab Shah, and frequented his dargah. Even now, his family members are said to be visiting Pakistan regularly, to pay their respects at the dargah of Sain Nasir Faqir, another widely respected Sufi saint. The author says that he was unaware of the distinction between Hindus and Sikhs in Sindh and only came to know about the differences much later in his life. He thought the Hindus and Sikhs to be the unbearded and bearded followers respectively, of Guru Nanak. This open admission of ignorance helps to enhance his image as a bridge between the two prominent religions in India. Every word in the autobiography is calculated to add weight to his stature as a great leader accessible and affiliated to people of all faiths. Advani also says that caste differences were not so prominent in Sindh and that he was astonished by its prominence in the rest of India. However, lower castes definitely existed in Sindh and it is an open question whether he had them in mind when he declares that literacy rate among Karachi Hindus was almost 100 per cent. The author portrays Sindh as a kind of Garden of Eden, whose atmosphere was vitiated by the arrival of immigrant Muslims who had to flee from India.

Indira Gandhi, who was the third prime minister of India, plunged the country into the depths of corruption and nepotism as part of her leftist policies that sought to rein in free enterprise. All major banks and insurance companies were nationalized in one stroke. The government was conceived to be totally inefficient and partisan to the interests of a few powerful politicians and industrialists. Widespread protests sprang up in all corners of the country under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP. He advocated the unity of Indian opposition parties whereby all warring factions planned to join him on the same platform. Indira Gandhi, who had an indelible streak of insecurity in her character, felt threatened at this and invoked Emergency provisions in the Constitution in 1975. In a span of roughly two years, the entire opposition was crushed, its leaders jailed and the morale of the masses pushed to its lowest ebb. Advani is remembered for playing a prominent part in the heroic struggle against Emergency. Even though jailed at Bangalore and Rohtak for the full 19-month term, he fought a brave legal battle along with fellow prisoners. Probably because of this, the book displays an aversion bordering on contempt to Indira Gandhi. Not only is she flayed for the excesses during the Emergency and her propensity for dynastic succession, the honour rightfully due to her on account of the historic victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan is withheld. Rather, the author praises General Manek Shaw, J S Arora and J F R Jacob for the military victory. Of course, the soldiers deserve credit, but going to war was a political decision in the first place, taken by Indira Gandhi. The book presents the fiasco of the opposition parties joining hands together to oust the Congress but falling prey to personal ambitions of its leaders. The Jana Sangh, which had the largest contingent among the legislators of the unified party had only three cabinet berths. But they accommodated the claims of other parties in a commendable way. But when the others raised the issue of dual membership as a way to target it, the party had no option but to part ways and form the BJP, which rules the country now.

Demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya was the event that catapulted Advani to fame and which proved to be the breakthrough for the BJP to get out of the political wilderness. The book devotes prominent space to that episode. He begins with comparing the temple construction movement to that of renovation of Somnath Temple in Gujarat during Nehru’s first cabinet by asserting that the birthplace of Lord Ram, believed by devotees to be at Ayodhya is similar in stature and significance to Somnath. A temple dedicated to Ram was destroyed in 1530 by Babur’s military commander and a mosque was built on the site. Similar acts of desecration was done at Mathura and Varanasi too, the other two most sacred places of Hindus. Ayodhya witnessed many struggles and communal riots over the four intervening centuries since a mosque was forcibly built. The place was not used for Islamic worship, and from 1949 onwards, worship of the idol of Ram was in vogue. Advani buttresses the Hindu claim with the argument that the mosque was just an ordinary one like any other for the Muslims, but one of the holiest places for believing Hindus. He never regrets his role in the movement, but claims to be proud of being associated with it. He was an eye witness at Ayodhya on that fateful day when the structure was forcibly pulled down by irate karsevaks (volunteers for a religious purpose) who were tired of frequent agitations not yielding any concrete results. The defied all calls of the leaders and brought the edifice down in a matter of a few hours. Advani termed the day the saddest in his life. Curiously, he shifts a part of the blame on the governments of Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, who respectively allowed the foundation stonelaying and the karseva (religious construction) to take place. He vouches that most of the leaders, including V P Singh and Narasimha Rao were privately not averse to the idea of building a temple at the site. The anti-Islamic surge that helped to fertilize the movement is believed to be the result of Rajiv Gandhi’s humiliating submission before Islamic hardliners in the Shah Bano case. A Muslim divorcee named Shah Bano was awarded alimony by the court, but radical Muslims objected to it on the grounds that sharia does not enjoin the husband to pay any maintenance to the divorced wife. Rajiv Gandhi yielded to their demand that the law of the land be made subservient to religious diktats. He brought in legislation to sidestep the court verdict using his massive majority in parliament. This helped to consolidate Hindu sentiment throughout the country.

Advani was the second in command in Atal Behari Vajpayee’s cabinet. Their relationship was always a topic of speculation for the media. It is not common to see two stalwarts each having immense popular appeal working in tandem. They were long term friends and dedicated to each other. It was Advani who proposed Vajpayee for the post of prime minister in the run up to the elections in 1996. The relationship that lasted more than half a century should serve as a model not only for politicians, but in all areas where commitment to the organization should exceed petty personal ambitions. The foreword of the book is penned by Vajpayee. The book is however, written in an unemotional way, with the events presented in a matter of fact way without any punch at all that makes it dry reading. Probably this is in consonance with the author’s temperament in which he wishes to include more wit and sparkle. In the response to a question from a reporter, he expresses his desire to have the capacity to indulge in small talk. This is the reason why the book is written in a colourless, but serious way. Normally, the readers would expect a lot of anecdotes and lighter moments in a book of this genre, but Advani belies this hope. At 986 pages of text, the book is humongous, which could easily be cut down to a more manageable 400 pages by omitting several too detailed descriptions and verbatim reproductions of reports and speeches. His Ram temple rath yathra is in fact eclipsed by the long, state wise report of his less contentious and hence less remarkable Swarna Jayanti Rath Yathra in 1997.

On many occasions, readers feel that Advani has not been candid and frank. Ousting of Balraj Madhok from the presidentship of Bharatiya Jana Sangh is one such incident where he simply stops the narrative with the bland remark that his leadership caused serious destabilizing problems for the party. In 2005, after his controversial speech in Pakistan that praised Jinnah for his comments in that country’s constituent assembly guaranteeing the state to be secular. Severe criticism arose from both within and outside his party. He had to resign as party boss following this incident in response to the clamour from all quarters. Advani says he was told to step down without elaborating further. Who told him to resign? Senior party leaders, or his inner voice, or the RSS? This question remains unanswered.

The book is recommended.

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5. Read this book primarily to know about the rise of BJP in India and also to gain a 'right' view by the man who has been like Forrest Gump of Indian politics; Among many other imp things, i wanted to read his viewpoint on Ayodhya movement having read P.V. Narsimha Rao's earlier.
Yes, an auto-biography will be biased and a political auto-biography doubly so, but still an important book. Also, was interesting and a very fast read. The heaviest book by physical weight i have read :)
PS:- My admiration for Guha's India after Gandhi grew even more.

[Mansoor Azam · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book did not live up to all the hype that surrounded it on its launch.

[Anirudh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how much of it is true. I have never fully trusted any biography. But it was an okay read.

[aditya verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written but the most crucial periods were packed with lies and half truths

[Bhawana Somaaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some books destined to remain in your bookshelf. Its because either they are thick books or because they are difficult reads. I got this book in the year 2008 and it has taken me more than a decade to complete the book which is almost 1000 pages. It’s a voluminous book. It tells the story of LK Advani. It starts in Sindh before the partition and it ends in the year 2005 at the BJP’s National Council. What is interesting is that there are so many handwritten letters, there are his personal impressions about other things besides politics and of course politics and the milestones and what he feels and what he writes.

I particularly like what he writes about Atal Bihari Vajpayee and their relationship, and I liked Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s (at that time the Prime Minister of the country) foreword for LK Advani’s book. I suggest borrow the book from somebody if you can’t find it on the bookshelf or contact Rupa but read the book because it gives you a glimpse about what was happening much before you were born and also when we were growing up and we did not understand a lot of things which we understand now.

[Vivek Priyadarshi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The life of L. K. Advani as a politician has been larger than life. He as a young adult saw the partition of the country and then the history of politics in India till date. This is the biggest positive from the book. Most of the other accounts of the same period are written by historians who have studied about it and not lived though it. The biggest negative however is the political and diplomatic correctness of his character which seems to have made no mistakes in his personal or his political life. There narration seems to lack genuineness. One part however that lived to my expectations was his stance on Hinduism and his views on the Ayodhya issue which are very forthright and which he has strongly justified by his logic and arguments. The theme of the book is more like a moral lecture from the life and times of Advani which makes it a bit boring. All the content minus the moral lecture plus some true accounts which may not have been morally or diplomatically correct would have made it a bestseller.

[Janakan Manivannan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all those who are interested in post independent Indian history, please check out the book “My country, My life “- An autobiography of L.K.Advani. One of be few personalities to have the ringside view of major events post 1947. Irrespective of not subscribing to his viewpoint in many issues, his struggle against the Emergency along with Jp sir and others is inspiring. Great read 👌

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a long read about a very complicated period of history. Could have used some heavy editing but a person at the end of their career is allowed to indulge themselves. Some very interesting vignettes, Uncle. Good job.

[Ritesh Shetty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring book....

[Sunset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Toooooooooooooooooooo long and little bit of editing might have helped. Nevertheless it is a wonderful read.

[Ravi Aswani · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a lot of issues over which the authors views have been misunderstood (including Ayodhya and lately the Modi episode).
The book is certainly a good read and offers an interestina narrative of events since Independence.