President, VP, PM Modi Pay Tributes to Vajpayee at ‘Sadaiv Atal’

New Delhi, Dec 25: President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President C P Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his memorial ‘Sadaiv Atal’ on the occasion of his 101st birth anniversary.

A prayer ceremony was held at the memorial, which was attended by several senior leaders, including former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Ministers J P Nadda and Nirmala Sitharaman, JD-U leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, MPs, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and BJP working president Nitin Nabin, among others.

Prime Minister Modi said he was privileged to pay homage to Vajpayee at ‘Sadaiv Atal’ and described his life as one dedicated to public service and nation-building. He said Vajpayee’s personality, work and leadership would continue to inspire the people and serve as a guiding light for the country’s all-round development.

Earlier in a message, the Prime Minister remembered Vajpayee as a brilliant orator and a spirited poet who devoted his entire life to good governance and national progress.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior and passed away on August 16, 2018, in New Delhi. His birth anniversary is observed nationwide as Good Governance Day.

The BJP marked the occasion with commemorative programmes across the country, with participation from its chief ministers, Union ministers, MPs and organisational leaders.

India’s 13th prime minister, Vajpayee served three terms between 1996 and 2004 and is credited with major contributions to the nation’s economic growth and infrastructure development. During his tenure, India emerged as a nuclear power, and the Kargil conflict was successfully concluded under ‘Operation Vijay’.

Vajpayee had a distinguished parliamentary career spanning over four decades, having been elected nine times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha. Rising from humble beginnings, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and later honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 2015 for his outstanding service to the nation. (Agencies)