Last Updated: February 03, 2024, 13:18 IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with LK Advani
LK Adavni Bharat Ratna: I also spoke to him and congratulated him on being conferred this honour, the PM said.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani, who led the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the 1990s, will be conferred the Bharat Ratna— India’s highest civilian award–, announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning.
“I am very happy to share that Shri LK Advani Ji will be conferred the Bharat Ratna. I also spoke to him and congratulated him on being conferred this honour,” PM Modi said in a post on ‘X’.
Describing the 96-year-old former deputy PM as ‘one of the most respected statesmen of our times”, PM Modi said the veteran politician’s contribution to the development of India is monumental.
“His is a life that started from working at the grassroots to serving the nation as our Deputy Prime Minister. He distinguished himself as our Home Minister and I&B Minister as well. His Parliamentary interventions have always been exemplary, full of rich insights,” PM Modi further wrote.
I am very happy to share that Shri LK Advani Ji will be conferred the Bharat Ratna. I also spoke to him and congratulated him on being conferred this honour. One of the most respected statesmen of our times, his contribution to the development of India is monumental. His is a… pic.twitter.com/Ya78qjJbPK— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 3, 2024
Further praising the veteran leader PM Modi noted that Advani’s decades-long service in public life has been marked by an unwavering commitment to transparency and integrity, setting an exemplary standard in political ethics.
“He has made unparalleled efforts towards furthering national unity and cultural resurgence. The conferring of the Bharat Ratna on him is a very emotional moment for me. I will always consider it my privilege that I got countless opportunities to interact with him and learn from him,” PM Modi added.
The honour for Advani is being seen as an ode to his instrumental role in shaping the party’s core ideology which has come to dominate the country’s polity under Modi.
The announcement came days after Rashtrapati Bhavan on January 24 said Karpoori Thakur, the late former Bihar chief minister and socialist leader, will be awarded the highest civilian honour posthumously, in time for his 100th birth anniversary celebrations.
About LK Advani
Advani was the Deputy Prime Minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. Before retiring from active politics, the BJP leader had been a member of both Houses of Parliament between 1970 and 2019.
BJP’s longest-serving president, Advani, is credited with crafting the party’s rise through the 90s when it came to power for the first time as the head of coalition governments under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
During his initial political career, Advani became part of BJP’s predecessor Jana Sangh in 1951, formed by Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He was appointed as the secretary of the party’s Rajasthan unit and in 1957 he was shifted to Delhi to assist Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Together with Vajpayee, he is credited for building the BJP brick by brick and orchestrating its steep rise in the 1990s.
Also Read: LK Advani Gets Bharat Ratna: All About His Life, Political Career, Contribution to BJP
In 1990, Advani embarked on the ‘Ram Rath Yatra’– a chariot procession–to mobilise volunteers for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The Yatra began from Somnath in Gujarat and headed to converge at Ayodhya.
The effect of the Yatra was such that in the 1991 general election, the BJP emerged as the second largest party after the Congress with Advani winning for the second time from Gandhinagar and becoming the leader of opposition again.
The Bharat Ratna will be bestowed on Advani in a year of the Ram temple’s consecration, which marks a triumphant closure for the BJP of an issue.