NEW DELHI: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani was admitted to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi on Friday evening after developing a chest infection, hospital officials said. His condition is stable and he is under observation by a team of doctors.
The 98-year-old leader was brought to the hospital at around 7:30 pm on Friday, October 16, and admitted to the pulmonary department following preliminary examinations. Hospital authorities said Mr. Advani was receiving treatment under the supervision of a specialised team of doctors, and that medical tests and monitoring were being carried out in view of his advanced age and the chest infection.
A medical bulletin issued by Apollo Hospital said there was no cause for concern, and officials added that further updates on his health would be shared as his treatment progresses.
Mr. Advani has experienced age-related health issues in recent years and has been hospitalised several times for medical evaluations and treatment. He was last admitted to Apollo Hospital in May this year due to age-related health complications, remaining under medical care for a few days before being discharged.
In December 2024, he was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Indraprastha Apollo Hospital for medical management and investigations, where he was treated under the supervision of a neurologist. The hospital had then reported gradual improvement, and he was shifted out of the ICU within a couple of days.
His hospitalisation comes just over a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited his residence on October 7 to seek his blessings, a visit that had drawn wide attention given Mr. Advani's stature as one of the founding figures of the BJP.
Mr. Advani is among the most consequential figures in the history of Indian politics. Born on November 8, 1927, in Karachi in undivided India, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a young man and later became one of the principal architects of the BJP's rise from a relatively small political force into a major national organisation.
He served as the BJP president on three occasions — 1986 to 1990, 1993 to 1998, and 2004 to 2005 — and was instrumental in strengthening the party's organisational base across the country. His nationwide Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 became a defining moment in Indian politics, reshaping the national political discourse and significantly expanding the BJP's political reach.
The yatra, which traversed much of the country, is widely credited with propelling the BJP from a marginal presence in Parliament to the centre of national politics.
Mr. Advani served as Union Home Minister from 1998 to 2004 and as Deputy Prime Minister from 2002 to 2004 in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As Home Minister, he was in office during the Pokhran-II nuclear tests of May 1998, the Kargil conflict of 1999, and the 2001 attack on Parliament.
After the NDA's defeat in the 2004 general elections, he served as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009, and was the BJP's prime ministerial candidate in the 2009 general elections.
In recognition of his decades of contributions to public life, Mr. Advani was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 2024. The award capped a public career spanning more than seven decades, during which he evolved from a grassroots organiser into one of the most recognisable faces of Indian politics.
Even after stepping back from active politics, Mr. Advani has remained a revered figure within the BJP and across the political spectrum. His political journey included a stint as Information and Broadcasting Minister in the Janata government of 1977, imprisonment during the Emergency of 1975-77, and co-founding the BJP in 1980 alongside Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Leaders from across parties have traditionally visited him on important occasions, and his health has been a matter of national concern on each of his recent hospitalisations. The Prime Minister's visit earlier this month underscored the respect he continues to command within the party he helped build.
Following the news of his hospitalisation, several political leaders and well-wishers expressed their wishes for his speedy recovery. Messages poured in on social media, with leaders across the political divide praying for the veteran leader's health.
The outpouring of concern reflected the unique position Mr. Advani occupies in Indian public life — a figure whose influence shaped the political landscape for a generation, and who is regarded with affection even by political adversaries.
Hospital officials said Mr. Advani's condition remains stable and that he continues to receive medical care. Doctors noted that given his advanced age, a chest infection requires careful monitoring, and the pulmonary department's team is conducting the necessary tests. The hospital has not indicated a timeline for his discharge, and further updates on his health are awaited.
Mr. Advani's long public life has spanned some of the most dramatic chapters of independent India — from Partition, which he witnessed as a young man in Karachi, to the Emergency, during which he was imprisoned, to the economic liberalisation of the 1990s and the coalition era of the late 1990s and early 2000s. His memoir and public writings have documented these decades from the perspective of a participant who helped shape them.
In recent years, as his health has required more frequent medical attention, the BJP leadership has continued to honour him as its patriarch. Party events and anniversaries routinely invoke his legacy, and his portrait occupies a place of honour in the party's institutional memory. The conferral of the Bharat Ratna in 2024 was widely seen as a long-overdue national recognition of a career that defined an era of Indian politics.
For now, the focus remains on his recovery. Hospital sources said the veteran leader is responding to treatment, and the medical bulletin emphasised that there was no cause for concern. The nation, across political lines, will be watching for further updates as Mr. Advani, at 98, continues his treatment at Apollo Hospital in New Delhi.
(Reporting based on The Hindu and Hindustan Times.)