President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah among other leaders paid tribute to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his first death anniversary on Friday.
To mark the first anniversary of Vajpayee, a prayer meeting was held at Sadaiv Atal, the memorial to the former PM and BJP leader. PM Modi, President Kovind and others visited the memorial early morning on Friday and offered prayers.
The memorial was dedicated to the nation in December last year. The central samadhi platform comprises nine square black polished granite stone blocks, capped with a “diya” in the centre.
Vajpayee's adopted daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya and granddaughter Niharika were also present at the prayer meeting at Sadaiv Atal.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also paid tribute to Vajpayee. Mamata had served as the railway minister in the Vajpayee-lef cabinet.
“Tribute to Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji, former Prime Minister, on his first death anniversary. Let us recall his words: 'The gun can solve no problems. Issues can be guided by the three principles of insaniyat, jamhooriyat and kashmiriyat',” Mamata tweeted.
Vajpayee was the 10th prime minister of India and the first leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party to be PM. He led the National Democratic Alliance government during the 1998-2004 period. He served as prime minister briefly in 1996, and then for two terms between 1998 and 2004.
Vajpayee died on August 16 last year at the age of 93 after a long illness.
