Junagadh, September 24: Senior BJP leader L K Advani, who owed his and his party’s rise to power to his historic ”Rathyatra” taken out from Somnath in 1990, is visiting Somnath temple again tomorrow.
After his Somnath-Ayodhya rathyatra, which was thwarted by then Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav by arresting him in that state in 1990, Mr Advani made it a point to pay obeissance at Somnath temple every year on September 25, which also coincides with the birth anniversary of BJP idealogue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
The Somnath temple, which was built during the Vedic period, was destroyed by invaders many a times and it was rebuilt again and again. After India attained independence, its first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel visited Somnath on November 13, 1947 and initiated the temple’s reconstruction. Of course, Sardar Patel could not see the rebuilt temple as he died on December 31, 1950.
The rebuilt temple was inaugurated by then President Rajendra Prasad on May 11, 1951. At one time, Mr Advani, still a Lok Sabha member from Gujarat, was a President of the Somnath temple trust. He is still a trustee of the temple board headed by another senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.
—Agencies