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Friday, Apr 08, 2005

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BJP to observe anniversary of Advani's rath yatra

By Neena Vyas

BJP president L.K. Advani along with Jaswant Singh releasing his party publication in New Delhi on Thursday. -- Photo V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 7. Come September, the Bharatiya Janata Party is all set to celebrate the anniversary of the rath yatra by the party chief, L.K. Advani, from Somnath to Ayodhya in 1990.

A "massive rally" will be organised at Somnath on September 25 to mark the day when Mr. Advani set off for Ayodhya to champion the cause of the construction of a Ram temple on the disputed site there, the party has announced.

Mr. Advani himself has described that "rath yatra" as the "biggest mass movement in India since Independence." The Somnath rally would be part of a series of major events planned by the BJP from now to the end of this year to mark its silver jubilee anniversary.

OnMay 11, the BJP will commemorate the Pokhran-II nuclear test that made India a nuclear power. With slogans of "atom bomb nirman karo" the party has planned events in every district with a major rally being planned in Rajasthan. A rally has been planned in Bangalore on June 25 to mark the 30th anniversary of the imposition of Emergency.

Events are to be staged in Lakhimpur, Jammu and Kashmir, to mark the death of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee; in Chandigarh on July 26 to observe Kargil victory day; on October 11 in Patna to mark the "total revolution" call by Jayaprakash Narayan; in November in Assam to protest against the continuation of the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act; in the same month in Uttar Pradesh to mark the birth anniversary of Laxmibai of Jhansi; and finally the silver jubilee celebrations will come to an end with a massive party workers' convention in Mumbai towards the year end.

The action programme, which aims to mark the BJP's jubilee year and to galvanise its cadre, will also see party workers' conventions at the mandal, district, and State levels. At a meeting of State party presidents and organisation secretaries here today, Mr. Advani asked party State units to work hard to make these programmes a success.

Youth rallies, farmers' conventions, women's meetings and other similar events are also being planned on a large scale. The party leadership wants to commemorate various important dates in its 25-year-old history. A programme in Tamil Nadu will recall several "yatras" by party leaders, including Murli Manohar Joshi's Kanyakumari to Kashmir "yatra" and Mr. Advani's Swarna Jayanti and Bharat Uday "yatras."

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