Advani takes dig at Modi, says power makes people egoistic

Bharatiya Janata Party’s sulking senior leader Lal Krishna Advani took another dig at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Advani said power makes men egotists and ego is the source of corruption. He also said that the rulers should show confidence in the public.

Advani was the chief guest at the culmination of Dada J P Vaswani’s 95th birthday celebrations in Pune. Speaking at the occasion, he said, “For the last three years, the only issue which is discussed every now and then is corruption. And the source of corruption is ahankar (ego). Those who get a position of power start to think that they have got everything, they have become omniscient and nobody can touch them. But all this is an illusion.”

Referring to his memories of the Great Indian Peninsular railway during his youth, Advani said, “All the things in the train were marked, ‘Stolen from GIP railway’. It showed presupposition that the Indian public would steal them anyway. Even today, I tell others that rulers must show confidence in the public, otherwise they do not get respect.”

Advani appeared to impress his ‘inclusive’ personality when he said that he was educated in an English school run by a Christian institution. “Even today I cannot read or write good Hindi. All the scriptures, from Ramayana and Mahabharata, I read in English,” he said. Since independence, he said, his only dream was that India become an ideal country for all countries of the world.

Advani got a supportive voice from Dada J P Vaswani who said, “When I was in US, I was asked what the biggest challenge before my country was. I replied lack of enough men and women of character, people who are untainted, upright and not swayed by the greed of power was the biggest challenge. But I can very well say that Advani is one leader who has all the traits to lead the country.”