Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid rich respects as PM Modi recalls his legacy

Former Prime Minister of India and veteran BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee – hailed as the “man of the masses” – was on Sunday paid rich respects by President Droupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh among other top leaders at his memorial in the national capital.

Visuals showed President Murmu arriving with PM Modi and other leaders arriving at the memorial together as each of them offered tributes individually.

PM Modi also posted a video on Twitter, remembering Vajpayee, one of the co-founders of the ruling BJP. “His contribution to India is indelible. His leadership and vision motivate millions of people. (sic)” read the post. In the video, PM Modi can be heard recalling the legacy of Vajpayee as he remembers him as “true patriot”.

Vajpayee was the country’s prime minister for two terms – first briefly in 1996 and then in 1999. “The first Prime Minister since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to have become Prime Minister of India with two successive mandates” – reads his bio on the government website for Indian Prime Ministers. His first brush with national politics was said to be “in his student days, when he joined the Quit India Movement of 1942 which hastened the end of British colonial rule.” Poetry and cooking were among his other interests apart from politics.

Amit Shah and many other BJP leaders also posted tributes on social media. “Atal Ji’s life was dedicated in taking India to new heights. He laid the foundation for new India and the country attained a global stature,” he wrote in Hindi.

Tributes to Atal Ji on his Jayanti. His contribution to India is indelible. His leadership and vision motivate millions of people.

“I bow down to the source of inspiration for all of us – revered former Prime Minister Atalji – on his birth anniversary. He wrote a new chapter of development and good governance in India and gave a new identity to the country on the world stage. He was not only a visionary but also an erudite. His contribution to nation building is unforgettable,” Rajnath Singh wrote in Hindi.

The ruling NDA marks his birth anniversary as “Good Governance Day”.