Kamla Advani - The anchor of LK Advani's life

Pic courtesy: @VijayGoelBJP

Delhi: Kamla Advani, wife of BJP leader LK Advani, died of  heart failure in AIIMS on Wednesday.

While, the veteran BJP leader, during his long political career saw many highs and lows, there was one constant in his life which helped him tackle the pressures of life and politics and that was Kamla Advani.

She remained out of politics but was often seen with him in public and was truly the anchor of his life.

Kamla accompanied Advani during his famous and strenuous long 'rath yatra' in the late eighties and 90s that pitchforked BJP as the other pole in Indian politics and later during the 'Shining India' campaign as deputy PM in the Vajpayee government.

When he courted controversy for calling Mohammad Ali Jinnah a secular man, Advani had sought solace in his family for peace, including his wife.

As per a media report, when asked why the BJP chose the lotus as a symbol, he had joked - "Maybe because that's my wife's name."

LK Advani married to Kamla in 1965 and have two children, son Jayant and daughter Pratibha Advani.

Kamla, 83, worked at the General Post at Delhi and Mumbai branch and is said to have been the perfect manager of Advani household.

PM Narendra Modi is probably bang on when he said - "She always inspired and motivated karyakartas and was LK Advani ji's pillar of strength."

Deeply pained & saddened by Kamla Advani ji's demise. She always inspired & motivated Karyakartas & was LK Advani ji's pillar of strength. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016

I recall my many interactions with Kamla Advani ji. My thoughts are with the Advani family in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also echoed the same sentiments - "Kamla Advani ji was a pillar of support to Advaniji in his political march."

Saddened by the demise of Smt Kamla Advaniji. She was a pillar of support to Advaniji in his political march.She gave love to all of us. RIP — Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) April 6, 2016

When they celebrated 50 years of their wedding anniversary at a private function at their Prithviraj Road residence with family and close friends, LK Advani wrote in a blog post which read as following: (Courtesy - http://www.bjp.org)

Every year my daughter Pratibha observes her parent’s Wedding Anniversary (which falls in February) with some specially conceived function. Early this month, she came to me and said: “This year’s anniversary of yours is very significant. For you, Dada and Ma, who married in 1965, 2014 marks the commencement of your 50th year of togetherness! Let us have this time a family get-together of a kind we have never had earlier.Kamla, my wife, has one sister and four brothers. Of the four brothers, two are in Mumbai, one is in New Jersey, and the fourth lives in Saint Martin (West Indies). In my case, I have one sister who lives in Mumbai and has two sons and one daughter. The extended families within the country are mainly in Mumbai and Delhi. So for this year’s Anniversary function Pratibha invited all family members, from here and abroad and a few other select friends and relations for lunch, with Brian Silas, renowned Delhi based pianist on the piano to regale the gathering with old Hindi film songs!

It happens that Kamla’s youngest brother Manek is an expert chronicler of Hindi film music and a professional compere. He readily agreed to Pratibha’s suggestion not only to compere Brian’s performance that day, but also to conduct a novel sort of a musical quiz for the gathering – questions relating to the songs, lyricists, music directors etc. of the film industry were posed to the audience.

Fittingly, Advani was besides her when she breathed her last.