Rear view

Salim Makani,the man who drove L.K. Advanis rath thrice,says the BJPs seniors have to come together again....

In 1990,literally at the helm of a wave of Hindutva sweeping through parts of the country,Salim Makani drove a DCM Toyota Rath for nearly 10,000 km. And,for this 53-year-old Khoja Muslim,that was just long enough to understand how ideas like Ram Rajya had become evocative enough to command thousands of supporters wherever they went. All the veterans had played a role in these ideas evolving, says Lal Krishna Advanis three-time rath yatra driver. And what the party needs now is for the seniors to come together once again.

As the BJP struggles to re-energise itself,a man who came to be known as Ram Bhakt Salim says he knew the party to be always inclusive,and with ample space for differing opinions,with the emphasis always on ideology and thinking. Mahaul ab badal gaya hai, says the 53-year-old whose best anecdotes are from days spent behind the wheel of a decked-up van with a sometimes jubilant,sometimes thoughtful Lal Krishna Advani by his side,a frenzied month until they were arrested in October 1990,barred from proceeding beyond Samastipur,Bihar. Advanijis speeches were awe inspiring, he says.

As a Muslim,he says,he never doubted the concept of freeing Ram Janmabhoomi by lifting the mosque there and placing it some metres away. A resident of Hindu-dominated Dombivli,about 25 km from Mumbai,Makanis greeting,when he calls old associates from the Sangh Parivar or the Bharatiya Janata Partys older lot,remains Jai Shri Ram. After all,his father Wali Mohammed Makani had been general secretary of the Jan Sanghs Jhopadpatti Mahasangh in 1972-73. We grew up with the Parivar as our family, says the father of two who now runs a transportation business and undertakes civil contracts in the local civic corporation and other urban local bodies.

Makani has treasured photographs of himself with Advani,Venkaiah Naidu and other senior leaders. The seniors have given the party purpose and direction in the past. Now,those with some money and no knowledge of the party or its protocol8230;are doing well, says Makani. The old lot must come together if the party has to progress.

He drove Advani on his rath yatra three times,first from Somnath to Samastipur,then on the Surajya Rath Yatra from Kochi to Delhi and then the Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra from Mumbai to Delhi. Often,senior leaders,including Advani himself,suggested that he shift to New Delhi to nudge his political career forward,but he was keen not to take any short-cuts,he says.

He returned from the yatra to be posted as president of the Kalyan district minority cell of the BJP,later also becoming ward president of the Dombivli BJP and once nearly contesting corporation elections.

Still,when acquaintances ask about the rath yatra and his experiences as a Muslim driver steering Advanis route,he shakes off questions with a great deal of humility. Party hai,isliye Salim hai, he says,its not the other way around. I dont feel I did anything very important.