Of jail sentences and learning Kannada

KARWAR: Advani recollected his 19-month stay in the Bangalore central jail, during the national emergency. He recalled his association with the late former chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde, Supreme Court Justice K S Hegde — former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde’s father — and  former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.      Advani narrated an anecdote during his speech, which the people enjoyed the most. He said when the Janata government was formed by late Morarji Desai after the internal emergency was withdrawn, an all-party meeting was called. Devraj Urs, then chief minister of the state, who attended the meeting, wrote his name in Devanagari script and asked Advani whether he had written it correctly. Later, Advani wrote his name in the register in Kannada and asked Urs whether he was right. When Urs asked him where he learnt Kannada, Advani said it was in the jail in Karnataka. “I told Urs  that I would have learnt Kannada fully if I were in jail for some more time,” Advani said.