Lal Krishna Advani was born in Karachi, British India, to Kishanchand D. Advani and Gyani Devi. He was born into a Sindhi Hindu Lohana family.

Advani joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist organization, at the age of fourteen.

Advani became the secretary of the Karachi unit of the RSS.

Advani became a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a political party founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee in collaboration with the RSS.

Advani moved to Delhi and became the general secretary and later, president of the Delhi unit of the Jana Sangh.

Advani served as the leader of BJS in the Delhi Metropolitan Council (DMC).

Advani was elected as the chairman of the Delhi Metropolitan Council and served till 1970.

Advani became a member of the Rajya Sabha from Delhi for the first time.

Advani was elected as the president of BJS at the Kanpur session of the party working committee meeting.

Advani was reelected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat for the second time.

BJS and other opposition parties merged to form the Janata Party.

Advani became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Morarji Desai government.

Advani, along with former members of the Jana Sangh, quit the Janata Party and formed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the first president.

Advani was elected to the Rajya Sabha for the third time from Madhya Pradesh representing the BJP.

Advani was appointed party president of the BJP, shifting the party's stance towards the Hindutva ideology of Jana Sangh.

Advani got elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time.

Advani started his first yatra from Somnath in Gujarat which concluded at Ayodhya. The procession was linked to the dispute at Ram Janmabhoomi site at Ayodhya and was stopped in Bihar and Advani himself being arrested.

Advani's Ram Rath Yatra concluded at Ayodhya.

Advani won for the second time from Gandhinagar and became the leader of opposition again.

Babri Masjid was demolished with Advani alleged to have delivered a provocative speech prior to the demolition. Advani was acquitted on 30 September 2020 by a CBI's special court.

Four processions starting from four corners of country were organized and Advani led the yatra from Mysore in South India. Traversing through 14 states and two Union Territories, the processions were organized with the purpose to seek the people's mandate against the two bills and congregated at Bhopal on 25 September.

Advani's Janadesh Yatra congregated at Bhopal.

Advani did not contest the elections over allegations of involvement in the Hawala scandal from which he was acquitted later by Supreme Court. While Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister in May 1996, the government collapsed after just thirteen days.

The Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra was conducted in celebration of 50 years of Indian Independence and to project the BJP as a party committed to good governance.

Advani was elected to the Lok Sabha for the third term and became the Home Minister.

Advani won from Gandhinagar for the fourth term. He assumed the office of Home Minister and was later elevated to the position of Deputy Prime Minister in 2002.

Advani was elevated to the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

Advani won his fifth term to the Lok Sabha and became the leader of opposition.

Advani described Mohammad Ali Jinnah as a "secular" leader which led to criticism from the RSS. Advani was forced to resign as BJP president but withdrew the resignation a few days later.

Advani stepped down as party president and Rajnath Singh was elected in his place.

The BJP launched a nationwide mass political campaign consisting of two yatras – one led by Advani from Dwaraka in Gujarat to Delhi and the other led by Rajnath Singh from Puri to Delhi. The yatra was focused on fighting left wing terrorism, minority politics, price rise and corruption, protection of democracy.

Advani considered himself the Prime Ministerial candidate for the next general elections in May 2009.

Advani won his sixth term in Lok Sabha.

Advani handed over the position of leader of opposition to Sushma Swaraj.

Advani was elected working chairman of the National Democratic Alliance.

The last of the yatras was launched with the purpose of mobilising public opinion against corruption of then ruling UPA government and promote the BJP agenda of good governance and clean politics.

Advani contested the general election from Gandhinagar, winning for the fifth consecutive time.

Advani was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour.

Advani's wife, Kamla Advani, passed away due to old age.

Advani was conferred with Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.