As Advani enters 100th year, PM Modi praises his political acumen

As former Deputy Prime Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani celebrated his 99th birthday and entered the 100th year of his life on Sunday (November 7, 2026), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said ideological clarity and intellectual sharpness set Mr. Advani apart as a leader. There were very few people whose lives had touched so many different chapters of modern India, Mr. Modi said in an article.

Born on November 8, 1927, Mr. Advani, as a young man in 1947, experienced the pain of leaving behind his familiar world in Sindh, Mr. Modi said. “He rebuilt his life from scratch without bitterness. This trait of being able to build from scratch, against all odds, has stayed with him throughout. It was seen while he was strengthening the Jana Sangh and later building the BJP,” Mr. Modi wrote in the article, titled ‘Bharat Ratna LK Advani Ji at 100!’.

Mr. Advani’s tenures as BJP president saw the Congress falling sharply from 400 seats in Parliament to below 200 seats in 1989, and the BJP become the single largest party in Parliament for the first time in 1996.

Mr. Advani nurtured generations of activists and gave the BJP a “clear foundation rooted in the principle of Nation First”, the Prime Minister said.

“Two qualities always set Advani Ji apart as a leader. First, his ideological clarity and intellectual sharpness. This was reflected in his speeches and writings. The Jana Sangh and BJP resolutions he authored remain worth reading even today, while his interviews were consistently incisive and precise. Second, the manner in which he exposed the pseudo-secularism propounded by a large section of the Indian polity for many years,” Mr. Modi said in the article.

Stating that Mr. Advani had taken up every responsibility with immense diligence, Mr. Modi said that, after working as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak in Rajasthan, Mr. Advani went to Delhi, where he worked closely with the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “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,” Mr. Modi said.

In the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, when Mr. Advani contested from Gandhinagar, Mr. Modi said he had been involved in the campaign. “The people of Gandhinagar sent him to Parliament time and again. As a voter of Gandhinagar, I also had the honour of voting for Advani Ji on numerous occasions. The care and attention he devoted to his constituency is something to learn from,” Mr. Modi said.

The Emergency was a watershed moment in Mr. Advani’s life, the PM said, adding that the veteran leader had been at the forefront of saving democracy and protecting the Constitution. On Mr. Advani’s contributions as an administrator, Mr. Modi said that as Deputy Prime Minister and one of India’s longest-serving Home Ministers, Mr. Advani had been instrumental in strengthening India’s security apparatus. “His work in improving the lives of our security forces is remembered with great fondness. His unequivocal stand against terrorism ensured India got a tough anti-terror law,” the Prime Minister said.

Terming the Somnath-Ayodhya Rath Yatra as an iconic moment in Mr. Advani’s life, Mr. Modi said it changed the course of Indian society for the better. “I consider it a privilege that I got the opportunity to be involved in this Yatra from the ideation stage to execution. Being present at Somnath when the Yatra began was particularly special. A Yatra can be very demanding, requiring long hours, constant travel, physical endurance and an ability to remain focused despite fatigue. Advani Ji embodied this endurance,” the PM added.

Maintaining that Mr. Advani had always shown what probity in public life was about, Mr. Modi said Mr. Advani was also a voracious reader, a big fan of cinema and theatre, and has been an enthusiastic film critic.