NEW DELHI, Dec 26: Indian opposition leader Lal Kishan Advani, known for his role in razing the Babri mosque in 1992, lavished praise on Pakistan, and himself, for the restoration of a revered Hindu temple off the Islamabad-Lahore highway.

Adressing the BJP’s national executive in Mumbai ahead of his imminent retirement as its president, Mr Advani said he would remember 2005 for his “six-day visit to Pakistan, during which I am asked to inaugurate a project for the restoration of Katasraj temples of the Mahabharat era.”

The BJP is celebrating 25 years of its establishment since 1980. Mr Advani is tipped to be succeeded by former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Rajnath Singh but an apprent inner party tussle seems to have delayed a formal announcement.

“This is going to be the last meeting of this executive, and the last meeting which I shall be presiding over,” Mr Advani told the meeting. The first session of the party was held on Dec 27-29, 1980 in Mumbai. Mr Advani listed India’s formal acquisition of nuclear weapons as a key achievement of the National Democratic Alliance regime that was headed for six years by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

“Thanks to the six years of NDA rule India has become a nuclear power and the economy has undergone a metamorphosis.”

In his political life of more than half a century, Mr Advani said he could count 12 defining years.

“Each of these major events has been an educative experience in its own distinctive way. Some brought us joy and filled us with energy. Others brought us setback, uncertainty about the future and forced us to introspect.”