Former deputy prime minister and stalwart BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani was conferred Bharat Ratna by President Droupadi Murmu today at his Delhi residence.

Vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar, prime minister Narendra Modi, and former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu, were among the dignitaries present at this event.

Advani’s political career

Lal Krishna Advani, widely revered as a towering figure within the BJP, is credited with orchestrating the party’s ascent from obscurity to prominence, notably through his influential Rath Yatra in the 1990s. His tenure as a minister saw notable reforms in media freedom.

From being a non-Hindi speaking Sindhi studying in the Christian missionary - St Patrick’s School in Karachi, and yet opting for the RSS, migrating to India from Pakistan post the Partition, gradually rising up the ladder in the organisation, spearheading the Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 - Advani has had a long political career.

Coincidentally, the award was given to Advani the day the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was formed in 1980.

Advani, along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was the founder of the BJP.

With Advani at the helm of the organisation as the party President (longest serving), the BJP in 1989 catapulted to 86 seats from a mere 4 in 1984. In the 1992 elections, the tally swelled further to 121 seats.

The 1996 elections were a landmark moment for the BJP when it became the single-largest party with 161 seats. This was the time when the first BJP-led government was formed at the Centre with Vajpayee as the prime minister and Advani as the home minister. But the government lasted for just 13 days.

(Source: IANS)

- Edited for style

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