L. K. Advani

Some Lesser Known Facts About L. K. Advani

• L. K. Advani grew up in pre-partition Sindh.

  

• Advani joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Karachi in 1941 and soon became a full-time worker there.

• He joined the Model High School in Karachi in 1944 as a teacher.

• He was appointed as the Secretary of RSS, Karachi, in 1947.

• Advani started serving as a pracharak in Rajasthan after the Partition of India in 1947. He worked in Alwar, Bharatpur, Kota, Bundi and Jhalawar districts until 1952.

  

• He also helped journalist and historian K. R. Malkani publish Organiser, the weekly newsletter of the RSS, and became its national executive member in 1966.

• Advani helped the BJP become a national party. When he became the party president in 1986, he had to face a lot of problems as the BJP had only two members in the Lok Sabha as the Congress party had won easily after Indira Gandhi‘s assassination.

• Under Advani’s leadership, the BJP took a prominent role in the Ayodhya dispute. It supported the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Movement to build a temple at the Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, a disputed location believed to be the birthplace of Lord Rama.

• In 1989, the BJP’s support for the Ayodhya temple campaign, which they included in their election manifesto, made them secure 86 seats. This victory marked Advani’s debut in the Lok Sabha, where he became the opposition leader under VP Singh’s National Front government.

• In 1990, Advani led a journey called Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath, Gujarat, to Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, to gather support for the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement.

  

• Advani later organised 5 more yatras, ‘Janadesh Yatra’ (1993), ‘Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra’ (1997), ‘Bharat Uday Yatra’ (2004), ‘Bharat Suraksha Yatra’ (2006), and ‘Jan Chetna Yatra’ (2011).

• He began the Janadesh Yatra on 11 September 1993 from Mysore (now Mysuru), Karnataka, with the aim to oppose two bills: the Constitution 80th Amendment Bill and the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill. The yatra included four marches from across the country, passing through 14 states and 2 Union Territories.

• Advani led the Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra between May and July 1997 to celebrate 50 years of independence and showcase the BJP’s dedication to effective governance.

• Under his leadership, the Bharat Uday Yatra was held before the 2004 General elections. During the yatra, Harish Dagur, a BJP corporator served as a driver of Advnai’s rath. Advani preferred a speed of 80 kilometres per hour, and they completed 7872 km of travelling in just 33 days in a minibus across India.

• Advani shared a great bond with Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After his retirement, Advani took over the leadership of the BJP.

  

• In June 2005, during a visit to Karachi, Advani called politician Muhammad Ali Jinnah a “secular” leader, which upset the RSS and made him resign as the BJP leader. However, he withdrew his resignation soon after. By December 2005, during the party’s silver jubilee in Mumbai, Advani stepped down as the party president, allowing Rajnath Singh to succeed him.

• After a bomb blast at a Hindu shrine in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in March 2006, the BJP initiated a nationwide campaign, ‘Bharat Suraksha Yatra,’ from 6 April 2006 to 10 May 2006, which included two yatras led by Advani and Rajnath Singh. Advani’s yatra started from Dwarka in Gujarat from Delhi, while Rajnath’s yatra began from Puri to Delhi. It aimed to address issues such as left-wing terrorism.

• Advani took a leading role in starting the Jan Chetna Yatra from Sitab Diara in Uttar Pradesh on 11 October 2011. The yatra aimed to unite public opinion against corruption in the UPA government and promote the BJP’s focus on good governance and ethical politics.

  

• Advani is a fitness enthusiast and enjoys walking for exercise.

• His autobiography ‘My Country My Life,’ released by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on 19 March 2008, set a record sale of over 1 Million (10 lakh) copies.

  

• On 3 July 2024, Advani was admitted to Apollo Hospital in New Delhi due to age-related health issues. He was placed under the care of urology specialists for observation.