New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, paid their tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his first death anniversary at the BJP stalwart’s memorial, Sadaiv Atal.
Vajpayee was one of the tallest leaders of the country and founder members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who died last year on August 16 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after a prolonged illness. He was 93.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national working president JP Nadda were also present to pay tributes to Vajpayee at his memorial.
Vajpayee’s daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya and granddaughter Niharika were also present at the prayer meet.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee served three terms as the Prime Minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and finally, for a full term from 1999 to 2004. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he was the first Indian prime minister who was not a member of the Indian National Congress party to have served a full five-year term in office.
He was conferred India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee in 2015. The administration of Narendra Modi declared in 2014 that Vajpayee’s birthday, 25 December, would be marked as Good Governance Day.
