Mandaviya shares PM Modi's tribute to Advani at 99
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
As veteran BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani steps into his 100th year of life, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has penned a deeply personal tribute — and Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is urging every Indian to read it. On Sunday, November 8, 2026, Mandaviya shared the Prime Minister's article on X, calling it 'extremely heartfelt and inspiring' (atyanth bhaavpurna aur prernadayak).
Mandaviya wrote that Advani's entire life — his sacrifices and his contribution to nation-building — stands as 'a great inspiration for all of us.' He described PM Modi's piece as a 'wonderful article' that 'every citizen of the country must read without fail.'
Advani at 99: a life that shaped modern Indian politics
Lal Krishna Advani, born November 8, 1927, in Karachi (then undivided India), is one of the founding architects of the BJP and the broader Hindutva political movement. A co-founder of the party in 1980, he served as Home Minister from 1999 to 2004 under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was the Leader of Opposition during the UPA years, making him one of the most consequential opposition leaders in post-independence India.
His Ram Rath Yatra of 1990 — a cross-country political-religious procession — fundamentally reshaped the Indian electoral landscape and is credited with consolidating the Hindu nationalist voter base that eventually carried the BJP to power in 1998. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2024 — a recognition widely seen as PM Modi's personal gesture of gratitude to the man who built the ideological and organisational foundations of today's ruling party.
Modi's written tribute and what it signals
The Prime Minister choosing to mark Advani's entry into his centenary year with a written article — rather than a routine social-media post — reflects the depth of regard the current BJP leadership holds for its elder statesman. For Mandaviya, amplifying that tribute is both a show of party loyalty and a personal homage: Mandaviya himself rose through Gujarat BJP politics, a tradition in which Advani is a towering presence.
The gesture lands at a symbolically loaded moment. Advani, who has largely stepped away from active politics, remains a living link between the Jana Sangh era and the BJP's current dominance — a reminder that today's electoral machinery was built on decades of groundwork.