Political leaders across party lines and representatives of various faith groups pay homage to former PM in New Delhi
Political leaders across party lines and representatives of various faith groups paid homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi on Monday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the condolence meet.
Mr. Modi, in his address to the gathering held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, said Vajpayee had braved political untouchability accorded to his party’s ideology and had a very long stint in the Opposition to emerge as a statesman-leader, who put the country and democracy first.
“When Atalji formed the government for 13 days, no party was willing to support him. His government fell. He did not lose hope and remained committed to serving the people. Atalji showed the way when it came to coalition politics,” he said. He mentioned the Pokhran tests of 1998, which strengthened India’s defences, and credited him with changing the narrative on Kashmir, to shifting focus on the terror being sponsored from across the border.
In a remark aimed at the erstwhile ally Telugu Desam Party, Mr. Modi made a special mention of the creation of three new States — Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand — without any “acrimony and bitterness.”
Advani’s tribute
Former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani made an emotional speech about his compatriot of over six and half decades, stating that he “never imagined that he would be addressing a public meet without him [Vajpayee].”
“We read books together, watched films, he even cooked for me. We were compatriots and I learnt a lot from him,” said Mr. Advani. He said it would be a satisfaction that we lived our lives by the values taught by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat termed Vajpayee a model swayamsevak in his behaviour in public life.
“In his toughest times, he remained sensitive to the concerns of society, he is a Mahapurush in the way that he conducted his life, always courteous and concerned,” he said.
The meet was also addressed by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and chief of the Jamat-e-Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Madani.
The most rousing speeches came from the three former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir — Ghulam Nabi Azad, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who termed him the “messiah of Jammu and Kashmir.”
Mr. Azad recalled his dealings with Vajpayee when he was Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the minority Narasimha Rao government, stating that Vajpayee was the kind of man who even when he criticised you, did it with sweetness and a light touch.
Dr. Abdullah spoke of his patriotism and toughness in the face of the sanctions after the Pokhran test and during theKargil war, ending his speech with a rousing cry of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.
.“He was the first national politician who trusted Kashmiris and who won their trust,” Ms. Mufti said.
