Veteran BJP leader LK Advani is admitted to AIIMS Delhi, where his condition is reported to be stable and under observation.
Lal Krishna Advani is credited with the revival of the BJP as a formidable political force in the country. With his Rath Yatra from Somnath in Gujarat in 1992, Lal Krishna Advani catapulted the BJP from a two-member party in 1984 to an indomitable political machine.
Born on November 8, 1927, in Karachi, Pakistan, 96-year-old Advani possesses, in general, robust health for a man his age. A refugee like countless Hindu Sindhis during the partition, Advani joined the RSS as a Swayamsevak in 1942. Vajpayee and Advani, as a team, steered the BJP, which was born out of Jan Sangh in 1980.
Advani became BJP National President from 1986 to 1990, 1993 to 1998, and 2004 to 2005. Many of his proteges came to hold important positions within the party, chief among them being Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
LK Advani was the Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999–2004) cabinet. He was the official PM Face of the BJP in the 2009 elections, which the BJP lost to Congress and it’s allies. By 2014, Narendra Modi’s rising star had eclipsed every politician in the country, including L.K. Advani.
L.K. Advani’s story is the classic example of the dictum “Nice Guys Finish Second.”. He lived the prime of his life in the shadows of Vajpayee. Advani’s last years, being spent in relative oblivion, provide a glimpse into what Shah Jahan’s last days could have been—helplessly watching his disciple take centre stage.
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