- Friday, March 07, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (8) paid a visit to former deputy prime minister and home minister, and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani at the latter’s residence in New Delhi to wish him on his 96th birthday.
Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh was with him.
Modi later shared some pictures of the meeting on Twitter and said that Advani’s “contribution to India’s growth is monumental”.
Went to Advani Ji’s residence and wished him on his birthday. His contribution to India’s growth is monumental. He is respected all across India for his vision and intellect. His role in building and strengthening the BJP is unparalleled. I pray for his long and healthy life. pic.twitter.com/Pdxy5Hko8d
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 8, 2022
Visuals from India’s national broadcaster Doordarshan showed Modi walking into the lawn with Advani’s daughter Pratibha Advani before wishing him with a bouquet. He then sat down for a chat with the Advanis. They were seen smiling and speaking animatedly although it was not clear what they spoke on.
BJP national president JP Nadda wished Advani on Twitter in Hindi, saying, “Your life dedicated to the nation and organisation is an inspiration for us.”
Indian home minister Amit Shah said Advani strengthened the party’s organisation across the country with tireless efforts besides making invaluable contributions to the country’s development while serving in the government.
Advani, who served in the government of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is seen as a major force behind the rise of the BJP in India through the past three decades — from a party with two seats in the Lok Sabha or Lower House of the parliament to forming alliance governments in the late 1990s and eventually coming to power with its own majority under Modi in 2014.
Staring from the 1980s, Advani’s championing of the demand for a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh — headlined by a ‘Rath Yatra’ or chariot ride — is also a significant event in the rise of Hindutva politics that propelled Modi’s rise.
Advani was seen as a claimant to the PM post before 2014 but had to step aside to make way for Modi as his popularity skyrocketed.
A lawyer by education, Advani has been a lifelong worker for the BJP’s mentor body Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), though he did not remain unmarried unlike many RSS workers. He has a son and a daughter while his wife passed away in 2016.
Advani was born in present-day Karachi in Pakistan in a Sindhi family of businesspeople. The family shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai) after Independence in 1947.
He took part in almost all national elections in India and was the home minister in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government from 1998 to 2004. He was the deputy prime minister from 2002 to 2004.
In 2015, he received Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour.
