CM Bhupendra Patel pays tribute as Advani enters 100th year
Synopsis
Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel marked L.K. Advani's entry into his 100th year with a tribute highlighting the veteran BJP leader's stand during the 1975 Emergency and his decades-long connection with Gandhinagar, amplifying Prime Minister Modi's own tribute.
Key Takeaways
Advani has entered his hundredth year of life, prompting tributes from senior BJP leaders.
Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel posted a tribute on 8 November 2026 , amplifying remarks made by PM Narendra Modi .
Advani was detained during the 1975–1977 Emergency , an episode Patel cites as proof of his democratic commitment.
Advani first won the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in 1991 and held it across multiple elections, forging a lasting bond with Gujarat.
Advani served as Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the Vajpayee government.
A formal centenary is expected in November 2027 , with larger party observances likely to follow.
A century of living, four decades of shaping modern India — Lal Krishna Advani steps into his hundredth year, and the tributes flowing in from BJP's current generation speak volumes about the shadow he casts. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Sunday, 8 November 2026, shared warm words marking the milestone, amplifying sentiments first expressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
From an Emergency cell to Gandhinagar's enduring favourite
Patel's post draws a straight line from one of independent India's darkest chapters to the sunlit constituency of Gandhinagar. During the 1975–1977 Emergency, Advani was among the opposition leaders detained under preventive laws — a period that forged his identity as a defender of democratic norms. Decades later, Gandhinagar became his political home: he first won the Lok Sabha seat there in 1991 and held it across successive elections, building an unusually personal bond with Gujarat's voters that transcended ordinary party loyalty.
Patel describes Advani's journey as one that 'embodies selflessness and probity in public life' — language that carries deliberate weight in an era when such virtues are often invoked more than practised. The Chief Minister also echoed PM Modi's 'heartfelt words,' signalling a unified party posture toward the veteran leader's centenary milestone.
A founding figure the party still reaches back to
Advani's political career stretches back to the Jan Sangh era, long before the Bharatiya Janata Party was formed in 1980. He served as Home Minister and later as Deputy Prime Minister under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, cementing his place in the top tier of post-Independence Indian leadership. For the BJP, paying tribute to Advani is not merely personal courtesy — it is an act of institutional memory, connecting the present leadership to the ideological and organisational scaffolding on which the party was built.
Such public gestures by sitting chief ministers and the Prime Minister on a founding figure's milestone birthday are a recurring feature of BJP political culture, reinforcing continuity across generations of leadership. With a formal centenary in November 2027 on the horizon, Sunday's post signals that observances may only grow larger.
At one hundred years, L.K. Advani remains a living bridge between the emergency-era resistance and the party's current dominance — and the tributes pouring in suggest no one in the BJP intends to let that bridge be forgotten.
Point of View
Such gestures also signal to cadres that ideological inheritance matters as much as electoral arithmetic. The upcoming formal centenary in 2027 will test how the party translates rhetorical tribute into durable institutional memory.
NationPress
8 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is L.K. Advani in 2026?
L.K. Advani entered his 100th year of life in November 2026 , with his formal centenary birthday falling in November 2027 .
Why is L.K. Advani associated with Gandhinagar?
Advani first won the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in 1991 and retained it through successive elections, making the Gujarat constituency the cornerstone of his parliamentary career.
What happened to L.K. Advani during the Emergency?
During the 1975–1977 Emergency declared by then-PM Indira Gandhi, Advani was detained under preventive laws along with many other opposition leaders — an experience widely cited in BJP circles as a defining moment in his democratic commitment.
What positions did L.K. Advani hold in the Indian government?
Advani served as Home Minister and subsequently as Deputy Prime Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee -led NDA government, placing him among the most senior figures in post-Independence Indian governance.
Why did CM Bhupendra Patel post a tribute to L.K. Advani?
Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel paid tribute to mark Advani's entry into his 100th year , echoing PM Modi's own tribute and highlighting Advani's Emergency-era resistance and his enduring connection with Gujarat and Gandhinagar.
