NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday penned a detailed tribute article honouring veteran BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, as the senior leader turned 99 and entered his 100th year on 8 November. Announcing the article on X, the Prime Minister wrote: “Today, 8th November, is a landmark day. Respected L.K. Advani Ji enters his hundredth year. On this special occasion, my greetings to him.”

Source: IANS via asiaPOST

In the article, PM Modi traced a life he described as intertwined with several defining chapters of modern India. Advani was born on 8 November 1927, on Dev Deepawali, and as a young man experienced the trauma of Partition in 1947, when he had to leave behind his familiar surroundings in Sindh. The Prime Minister said Advani rebuilt his life from scratch without bitterness — a quality that stayed with him as he strengthened the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and then built the BJP. “There are very few people whose lives have touched so many different chapters of modern India,” he wrote.

Recalling Advani's decades-long partnership with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, PM Modi wrote: “History shows that it is rare for two towering political leaders to work together for several decades, cooperating with each other without becoming competitors. Advani Ji and Atal Ji set a remarkable example. Together, they changed the course of Indian politics.” He credited Advani with nurturing generations of party workers and giving the party a clear foundation rooted in the principle of Nation First.

The article recalled Advani's election as Chairman of the Delhi Metropolitan Council in 1967 and the start of his parliamentary career in 1970, his stand during the Emergency of 1975 — which the Prime Minister called a watershed moment in Advani's life — his tenure as Information and Broadcasting Minister in the Janata government, and his later service as Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. It also recalled the Somnath-to-Ayodhya Rath Yatra, and PM Modi's own memory of helping prepare Advani's election papers during the 1991 Lok Sabha campaign in Gandhinagar.

PM Modi noted that Advani's birthday this year coincides with Diwali, a festival associated with Lord Shri Ram and the lighting of diyas, and linked the occasion to other milestones — 75 years of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the centenary of the RSS and the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Recalling that India honoured Advani with the Bharat Ratna in 2024, he concluded: “As Advani Ji enters the hundredth year of his life, I pray that he be blessed with good health and that he continues to inspire us all as he has always done.”

Greetings also poured in from across the BJP leadership. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Advani had “set new standards of integrity, dedication and leadership” through his long public life and played an extremely important role from the founding of the BJP to extending its reach across the country. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari noted that Advani “turns 99 today and enters his 100th year” and prayed for his good health, while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta also extended birthday wishes, with Gupta recalling Advani's role in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Born on 8 November 1927, Advani co-founded the BJP in 1980 after years of organisational work with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and served as the party's longest-tenured president; the Ram Rath Yatra of 1990 marked a decisive turn in Indian politics, expanding the party's national footprint.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat