After the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) proposed the name of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi as the leader of the NDA Parliamentary party, Modi, who is all set to be Prime Minister for a third time, visited BJP stalwarts LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi at their respective residences on Friday.
The visits come ahead of Modi staking claim to form the government at the Centre for the third consecutive term. Taking to X, Modi wrote, “Went to Advani Ji’s residence and sought his blessings. Every BJP karyakarta is inspired by Advaniji’s monumental efforts to strengthen the Party.”
PM Narendra Modi during his visit to LK Advani. (X@narendramodi)
Regarding his visit to Joshi, he wrote, “Went to Advani Ji’s residence and sought his blessings. Every BJP karyakarta is inspired by Advaniji’s monumental efforts to strengthen the Party.”
PM Narendra Modi during his visit to BJP veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi. (X/@narendramodi)
He is later scheduled to go to the Rashtrapati Bhawan to call on President Droupadi Murmu for staking claim to form the government. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha Elections, BJP won 240 seats, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) collectively garnered 293 seats, thus enjoying majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
The veteran leaders’ contribution to the BJP
The contribution of the two veteran leaders to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement changed the course of not only the BJP, which rose from the margins of the electoral arena, but also Indian politics.
The BJP’s turn towards supporting the VHP’s Ram Temple demand began when Advani replaced Atal Bihari Vajpayee as party president in 1986, two years after its 1984 debacle when it was reduced to just two Lok Sabha seats. After taking charge of the party, Advani named Murli Manohar Joshi as national general secretary. Joshi was an RSS man and physics lecturer whose PhD guide at Allahabad University was former RSS chief Rajendra Singh or Rajju Bhaiyya.
The BJP under Advani formally supported the Ram Temple demand of the VHP at its Palampur session in June 1989, a move that made Jaswant Singh walk all the way to the railway station in disapproval.
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