Bharat Ratna For LK Advani: All You Need To Know About The BJP Stalwart
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister of India, LK Advani will be conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour.
PM Modi said Advani's contribution to the development of India is monumental.
"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 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 said in a social media post.
Who is LK Advani
Lal Krishna Advani was born in Karachi, in present-day Pakistan, on November 8, 1927, and migrated to Rajasthan along with his family in 1947, following India's Independence and the formation of Pakistan. He later moved to Bombay, and then Delhi.
Advani began his political career in Rajasthan with the RSS in 1941 at the age of fourteen and joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1951.
LK Advani's election debut?
The first elected office Advani held was that of a Delhi Metropolitan Council Chairman in 1967.?
Advani made his Parliamentary debut in 1970 as a Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi.
Advani becomes minister for first time
Advani became a Union Minister for the first time in 1977 in the Morarji Desai-led Janata Party government where he held the portfolio of Information and Broadcasting.
After the collapse of the Desai government, in 1980, Advani became the Leader of Opposition as the Congress came back to power.
Formation of BJP
In 1980 Advani along with others like Atal Bihari Vajpayee quit the Janata Party to form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While Vajpayee served as the first President of the BJP, Advani went on to hold the office for the longest time.
After the setback, the BJP suffered in the 1984 elections, the party went back to its Jana Sangh roots and soon became the face of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Involvement in Ram Janmabhoomi dispute?
Advani became one of the most prominent leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement and played a key role in the events that led to the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Most famously, in 1990 Advani delivered the 'Mandir Wahin Banayenge' speech, which went on to become the slogan of the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement.
In the speech, Advani defied calls by then-Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, who asked him to cancel his march towards Ayodhya and also challenged the court asking "if the court can decide whether Ram was born in Ayodhya or not."
Rath Yatra
On September 25, 1990, Advani launched his Rath Yatra to Ayodhya, from Somnath but it ended in Bihar after he was arrested.
But his speech and the Rath Yatra are widely believed to be the trigger that led to the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
The Ram Janmabhoomi movement catapulted the BJP to power in the Center in 1996, though the government collapsed after just thirteen days.
Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
BJP returned to power in 1998 once again under Vajpayee as PM and Advani became the Home Minister. After the 13-month-old government collapsed, BJP returned to power in 1999 where Advani was once again made the Home Minister and later the Deputy Prime Minister of India, the highest office he has held.
Following the BJP's election lose in 2004, Advani became the Leader of opposition. In the 2009 General Election Advani was projected as the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, but the party could not succeed.
Advani contested his last Lok Sabha election in 2014, where he was elected from Gandhinagar, winning the for the fifth consecutive time.
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