Dumka (Jharkhand): Reacting to the announcement of Bharat Ratna for veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said that Advani had saved Narendra Modi in 2002 and had "put the real face of Modi in front of the country in 2014" in his famous remarks in which called Modi a 'brilliant event manager'.
Speaking during the ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Jharkhand's Dumka, Ramesh said in 2022, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was about to remove Modi as Gujarat CM as he had reminded him of his "Raj Dharma". "If there was someone who had saved Modi then, it was Lal Krishna Advani," Ramesh said.
"Fast forward to the scene in Gandhinagar on 5 April 2014. Narendra Modi and Advani Ji are going to file their poll nominations. Advani ji gave a famous statement on that day. He said 'Narendra Modi is not my disciple but a brilliant event manager'," the Congress MP said.
He added that when he looks at them, he recalls these two things: "How Advani saved Modi in 2002 and how in 2014, Advani Ji had put the Prime Minister's real face in front of the country."
The 2014 statement came when Modi, then the Gujarat chief minister and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, had accompanied Advani to Gandhinagar where the latter had gone to file his nomination papers for the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Both leaders addressed a public meeting in which Modi heaped praise on Advani.
In his speech, Advani had said, “I will not call Narendrabhai my protege, but I have never seen a more brilliant and efficient events manager than him. And he had brought this event management capacity to governance also. That has made him more suitable for the assignment that the party has given him.”
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Modi announced that Advani will be conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award. "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," Modi said on X.
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