BJP Stalwart LK Advani To Be Conferred Bharat Ratna, Announces PM Modi

New Delhi: BJP veteran LK Advani will be conferred with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), PM Modi wrote: “I am very happy to share that Shri LK Advani Ji will be conferred the Bharat Ratna. I also spoke to him and congratulated him on being conferred this honour.”

He further added, “One of the most respected statesmen of our times, his contribution to the development of India is monumental. His is a life that started from working at the grassroots to serving the nation as our Deputy Prime Minister. He distinguished himself as our Home Minister and I&B Minister as well. His Parliamentary interventions have always been exemplary, full of rich insights.”

He also praised the former BJP president for setting “exemplary standard” in political ethics. “Advani Ji’s decades-long service in public life has been marked by an unwavering commitment to transparency and integrity, setting an exemplary standard in political ethics. He has made unparalleled efforts towards furthering national unity and cultural resurgence,” he said.

Advani had served as the 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004 in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Before retiring from active politics, he was a member of both Houses of Parliament between 1970 and 2019.

The BJP leader had catapulted the party into national reckoning with his Rath Yatra for Ayodhya’s Ram Temple in the early 1990s.

Advani is the second politician to be receive the honour this year.

Former Chief Minister of Bihar Karpoori Thakur was conferred Bharat Ratna, posthumously by President Droupadi Murmu on January 23. Dubbed “Jan Nayak” by many in the state, he served as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a short while — from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979.