Advani says he was behind Musharraf’s Agra invite

“That for us to have invited him (Musharraf) despite Kargil was not a small thing. I would claim I did it. I advised (then prime minister) Vajpayeeji that it does not matter if Kargil had failed,’’ said Advani. Stressing that Indo-Pak relations must be pursued further, Advani said “with General Musharraf in office there, there is a possibility that we move forward.”

Replying to a question, Advani said Musharraf came for the talks “with a kind of confidence which made him feel that even though he would assert J-K was a freedom struggle and there is no terrorism, India would be willing to sign a treaty”.

Asked what brought about the change in Musharraf, he said, “I think in the meanwhile so many things happened in Pakistan. Things that developed in Pakistan made him realise terrorism is an evil which will affect every country and I think General Musharraf can deliver.”

On the national front, the BJP chief said his party’s stand on Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin remained an issue. “How can you have, in a country of so many crores, a person of foreign origin as your leader only because the person is married in a certain family. It’s an issue in politics, in my mind and heart,’’ he said.

Advani said that unlike the Congress, which saw the BJP as an “evil”, he did not regard either the Congress or the Gandhi family as one.

“But this conception that the Gandhi family alone is fit to rule the country is basically undemocratic. It is totally unacceptable to any democrat. I am surprised that the Congress has readily accepted it. The manner in which the change of Congress presidentship took place would shock any decent person. How can you physically change a party president? Why there is no protest?” he asked.

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