Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi made sure that Sardar Patel’s dream of reclaiming Somnath was achieved (Nehru had objected, Gandhi had agreed provided no public funds were used)

One of Munshi’s teachers (Baroda College) was Shri Aurobindo. Munshi went on to becoming a founder of VHP.

We must make sure that coming generations know the name of not just Patel and Sri Aurobindo but also lesser known figures such as Munshi.

For Hindus, indeed for any Dharmikas, to take back places of worship that were repeatedly destroyed by Abrahamics to humiliate them, is rare.

Munshi later also joined the Swatantra party and then Jan Sangh itself. He of course had been in Congress earlier. It was a period of great churn when the latter went from a big tent to an ideologically deracinated party. Over the decades, it further doubled down. Hence results.

It was Advani’s genius that he started his Ayodhya Yatra from Somnath. He won half the battle right there in terms of legitimacy and precedent. His dream has been fulfilled by Modi and Shah and by the party founded by Mookerjee and led by Advani’s friend Vajpayee for a long time.