New Delhi: A person who never buckled under pressure, an exemplary swayamsewak(volunteer), a human being who ruled everyone’s heart like an emperor and a leader who brought everyone together cutting across ideological divides even in his death, tributes flew in for BJP patriarch and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who passed away last week after a prolonged illness.
An all-party prayer meeting for late Vajpayee saw politicians, cutting across political and ideological lines, remembering the BJP patriarch for his generosity, his simple nature, his oratory skills, an ajatshatru (someone who had no enemy) even when in politics and someone for whom country’s interests were the only priority.
The event saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, Trinamul’s Derek O’Brien and many politicians fondly remembering the late PM and heaping praises on him.
Describing Vajpayee as a person who neither buckled under pressure nor lost hope despite the odds, Mr Modi said the late party patriarch changed the narrative when some countries were cornering India on the Kashmir issue and because of him terrorism became an important issue on the world stage. He said no party was willing to support Vajpayee when he formed the government for 13 days, referring to the short-lived NDA government in 1996 and the government fell.
