Atalji's life size portrait, lights up the Central Hall..!

New Delhi, February 12: President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled a life size portrait of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the central hall of parliament house in the presence of vice president Venkaiah Naidu and PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

 

“Atal Ji had a long political career, a large part of that career was spent in Opposition. Yet, he continued raising issues of public interest and never ever deviated from his ideology. Now on, Atal Ji will be forever in the Parliament's Central Hall, inspiring us and blessing us”, said PM Narendra Modi while addressing the masses in the hall.

“If we start talking about the goodness of Atal Ji, it will take hours and hours. There was power in Atal Ji's speech and there was equal power in Atal Ji's silence. His communication skills were unparalleled. He had a great sense of humour”, he added remembering the former PM. 

Vajpayee, who passed away in 2018, joins Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in the pantheon of former Prime Ministers who have been honoured in such a manner.

Meanwhile President Ram Nath Kovind asserted that Atal ji will always be remembered among the great politicians of Indian politics. The ease and dignity that he has given in the politics and acceptance of defeat and defeat in politics is exemplary. He was example of patience in opposite situations.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a towering BJP leader, was the Prime Minister thrice - first for 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and then from 1999 to 2004. Born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP veteran passed away on August 16, 2018, after a prolonged illness.

The decision to install the portrait of the Bharat Ratna was taken on December 18 at a meeting of Parliament's Portrait Committee chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. The meeting, which was attended by Deputy Speaker M. Thambi Durai, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, BJD's B Mahtab, TMC's Sudip Bondopadhyay, TRS' Jithendra Reddy, Shiv Sena's Ananth Geete and BJP's Satyanarayan Jatia, had taken the decision unanimously.

Earlier, on the eve of Vajpayee's 94th birthday, Modi had released a commemorative coin in memory of the late leader on December 24, 2018, in the presence of Sumitra Mahajan and some ministers. The commemorative coin has the Emblem of India on one side and on the other side, Vajpayee's picture with his name inscribed in Devanagari and Roman languages.

Paying rich tributes to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, PM Modi signed off on the occasion saying that the former Prime Minister had never compromised on the party's ideology. Vajpayee had always pitched for the supremacy of democracy and was unlike those leaders for whom power is oxygen.