Former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani, who catapulted the party into national reckoning with his Rath Yatra for Ayodhya’s Ram Temple in the early 1990s, leading to the consecration of Ram Lalla at a new temple in the holy city, has been conferred with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to him on Saturday and conveyed the news.
While announcing the honour for the veteran, the Prime Minister stated that Advani’s role in the development of India is monumental, and he referred to him as one of the most respected statesmen of India. Soon after the Prime Minister’s announcement, a communication from the Rashtrapati Bhawan mentioned that President Droupadi Murmu has been pleased to award the Bharat Ratna to Advani.
Advani is the second top BJP leader after the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was conferred with the Bharat Ratna. Acknowledging the award, Advani expressed that the Bharat Ratna is not only an honor for him as an individual but also for the ideals and principles that he strove to serve throughout his life to the best of his ability.
“With utmost humility and gratitude, I accept the Bharat Ratna that has been conferred on me today,” he said in a statement soon after Modi announced his name for the country’s highest civilian honour.
The 96-year-old leader, the longest-serving president of the BJP, mentioned that ever since he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as its volunteer at the age of 14, he sought reward in only one thing - “dedicated and selfless service to my beloved country in whatever task life assigned to me.” He said what has inspired his life is the motto: “This life is not mine. My life is for my nation.”
Today, he expressed gratitude and remembered two persons with whom he had the honour of working closely — Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, both awarded the Bharat Ratna earlier. He expressed heartfelt gratitude to millions of BJP workers, RSS volunteers, and others with whom he had worked in his public life. Advani thanked Murmu and Modi for the honour.
“I also express my deepest feelings for all members of my family, especially my dear departed wife Kamla. They have been the greatest source of strength and sustenance in my life,” he said. He added, “May our great country progress to the pinnacle of greatness and glory.”
The Prime Minister mentioned that he felt privileged to have interacted with and learned from Advani. “The conferring of the Bharat Ratna on him is a very emotional moment for me,” Modi said.
“One of the most respected statesmen of our times, his contribution to the development of India is monumental. His life began with grassroots work, eventually leading him to serve as our Deputy Prime Minister. Distinguishing himself as our Home Minister and I&B Minister, his Parliamentary interventions have always been exemplary, filled with rich insights,” he said.
“Advani ji’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 had countless opportunities to interact with him and learn from him,” he said. The development comes days after the Modi Government announced the Bharat Ratna for former Bihar Chief Minister and OBC reservation pioneer Karpoori Thakur.
The Bharat Ratna will be bestowed on Advani in a year of the Ram Mandir’s pran pratishtha, marking a triumphant closure for the BJP on an issue thrust into popular consciousness by the veteran leader through his ‘Ram Rath Yatra’ in 1990.
The yatra and the mass appeal it drew boosted the party’s vote share, making it the key challenger to the Congress, the then biggest national party. The Bharat Ratna for Advani at this time is likely to add to the BJP’s Temple narrative ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The announcement of the Bharat Ratna for Advani is significant given the complicated relationship that Modi has shared with the 96-year-old BJP leader. It is widely believed that Advani promoted Modi as a young RSS worker, elevating him in the BJP ranks and helping him eventually become Gujarat Chief Minister in the early 2000s.
It is also said that Advani favoured Modi after the 2002 Gujarat riots when then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee appeared to be disappointed over it. If the recognition for Thakur, years after his passing in 1988, was seen by many political experts as part of the BJP’s push to deepen its roots among the economically backward classes (EBC), a category from which he came, 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.
During his long political career, Advani held several party and Government positions, including the role of Deputy Prime Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, Leader of the Opposition, and BJP president.
Born in Karachi, Advani migrated to India after the partition and settled in Bombay. He joined the RSS in 1941 at the age of fourteen. In 1951, he became a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, founded by BJP icon Syama Prasad Mookerjee. The Jana Sangh was the political precursor to the BJP. Advani first became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1970 and served four terms until 1989.
In 1977, following the Janata Party’s victory in the general elections, he became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting and the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha. He is one of the founding members of the BJP and served as the party’s president three times.
In 1989, he became a Lok Sabha member for the first time. When Vajpayee formed a Government in 1999, Advani served as the Minister of Home Affairs and the Deputy Prime Minister.
