LK Advani, the former Union Home Minister and AB Vajpayee's deputy in the NDA government from 1999 to 2004, is now a Bharat Ratna. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today made the announcement via social media. The PM spoke with Advani and congratulated him on being conferred the honour by his government.
"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," Modi wrote.
Advani was the architect of the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement, a political-religious movement that made the BJP the second-largest national party in India in the 1990s. It has been the wish of many BJP supporters to see Advani conferred with the highest civilian honour.
Critics say that Advani doesn't deserve to be given the Ratna because his politics were allegedly communal. The latest decision by the Modi government is going to divide academia and the media without a doubt. During the Rath Yatra in the late 1980s, Advani happened to say that courts can't decide where Lord Rama was born, adding that the Ram Mandir must be built only at the place where the Babri Masjid was standing.
https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1753660421809066495
