Bharat Ratna for Advani, BJP founder & architect of Ram Mandir movement

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 3

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday conferred India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, on LK Advani, BJP founder and Ram Janmabhoomi movement’s architect.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke the news this morning when he said, “I am very happy to share that LK Advani ji will be conferred the Bharat Ratna. I also spoke to him and congratulated him. One of the most respected statesmen of our times, his contribution to the development of India is monumental.”

Modi lauded Advani’s rise from a grassroots worker to India’s Deputy Prime Minister, saying, “Advani ji has distinguished himself as our Home Minister and I&B Minister. His parliamentary interventions have been exemplary... He challenged dynastic politics and fought for Indian democracy.”

Challenged dynastic politics

Advani challenged dynastic politics, fought for Indian democracy. — Narendra Modi, PM

The decision to confer the Bharat Ratna on Advani, 96, on the eve of 18th Lok Sabha elections and soon after the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is significant. It signals high recognition for the veteran leader’s role in national life, in resisting the 1975 Emergency and, principally, in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement that catapulted the BJP from the margins to a principal player in Indian politics.

When the BJP first adopted a resolution at its Palampur national executive in June 1989 seeking Ram Mandir at the contested Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, Advani was the national party president. He prevailed over the party moderates to steer the resolution that demanded Shri Ram Janmabhoomi be handed over to Hindus to construct a Ram Temple there. The party, in a first, said the Ayodhya dispute be resolved through mutual dialogue and if that’s not possible, an enabling legislation.

The results for the BJP were unprecedented. From two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 (when the Congress swept with 414 seats, the highest LS tally for any party ever) the party went to 85 in 1989; 120 in 1991; 161 in 1996 and 182 in 1999. BJP’s rise in the 1990s coincided with a Congress descent as the grand old party found itself at 114 LS seats in 1999, a pale shadow of its 1984 majesty.

Since the 1990s, Ram Mandir remained a constant in BJP Lok Sabha poll manifestos. The promise was finally fulfilled on January 22 this year though Advani skipped the consecration.

Ever since he, along with other Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders, formed the BJP in 1980, Advani remained at the centre of party’s and national politics until 2009 when he failed to steer the saffron forces to victory as a prime ministerial face. The Congress-led UPA returned to power that year.

The longest-serving BJP chief, Advani, who led the Ram Rath Yatra in 1990s, was also the original poster boy of Hindutva until Modi surfaced.

He rose to become Deputy Prime Minister in the Vajyapee Cabinet (1999-2004), but the BJP’s shock loss to the Congress in 2004 shook his faith in puritan Hindutva and he veered to a moderate path.

This was most evidenced in Advani’s controversial “Jinnah was secular” remarks during a visit to Karachi, his birthplace, in 2005. The remarks permanently undermined the Advani-RSS equation though the leader was asked to lead the BJP in 2009 LS polls, which the party lost.

The post 2009 era saw Modi’s rise. Advani, who didn’t take kindly to the former Gujarat CM’s elevation as BJP’s PM face in 2013, gradually found himself in the margins and eventually to the party’s Marg Darshak Mandal.

He was now a revered guide who was not required to contest elections.

Advani was not fielded in the 2019 LS polls.

Longest-serving party president

• Advani and other Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders formed Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980
• Headed BJP when it first adopted a resolution in 1989 seeking Ram Mandir at contested Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya
• The longest-serving BJP chief led Ram Rath Yatra in 1990s
• Rose to become Deputy PM in Vajyapee Cabinet (1999-2004)
• Tried to take a more moderate and secular avtar following party’s loss in 2004 polls

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