Whether as home minister or as deputy prime minister, Advani always prioritised national interest above all, earning him respect and admiration from across party lines, it said in a series of posts on X.”His long and tireless struggle for India’s cultural regeneration culminated in the reconstruction of Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya in 2024,” it said.Among the handful of post-Independence political leaders who succeeded in reshaping the national agenda and placing it on the path of development, Advani’s accomplishments provide the best articulation of the genius of India and its inclusive traditions, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said and shared pictures of the ceremony on X.Born in Karachi (now in Pakistan) in 1927, Advani migrated to India in 1947 during Partition.The 96-year-old BJP stalwart served as deputy prime minister from June 2002 to May 2004 and as Union home minister from October 1999 to May 2004.He was BJP president multiple times — from 1986 to 1990, 1993 to 1998, and 2004 to 2005.The Rashtrapati Bhavan said that with his vision of cultural nationalism, Advani toiled hard for decades, across the length and breadth of the country and brought about a transformation in the socio-political landscape.”When Emergency put India’s democracy at risk, the indefatigable crusader in him helped guard it against authoritarian tendencies,” it said in the post.As the information and broadcasting minister in the Janata Party government (1977-79), Advani was instrumental in the restoration of democracy by dismantling the Emergency’s antidemocratic legal edifice, reads the profile of the veteran leader shared by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.His contribution at the time was as intellectually inspiring, as politically impactful.
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