Nation remembers former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his second death anniversary

On the second death anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to the late former prime minister recalling his "outstanding service and efforts towards our nation's progress". PM Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and President Ram Nath Kovind have reached the Samadhi of Vajpayee 'Sadaiv Atal' to pay homage to the former prime minister.

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Besides the prime minister, several other political leaders paid homage to Vajpayee on his death anniversary including Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.

"The greatest speaker of our generation, a person who had no enemy, Bearer of liberal democratic values, Word craftsman, Sharp nationalist poet, Skilled administrator, Former Prime Minister of India, On the death anniversary of Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I pay homage to his auspicious memory!" Venkaiah Naidu tweeted in Hindi.

"I pray that the courtesy dignities of liberal amicable politics established by Atal ji keep guiding us," he said in the following tweet.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also recalled the contribution of the former prime minister and called him a source of inspiration for all.

"Great personality, brilliant politician, leader of national policy, skilled administrator, source of inspiration to all of us Bharat Ratna Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji on the death anniversary," he tweeted.

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Atal Bihari Vajpayee breathed his last on August 16, 2018. Being the first non-Congress PM, he served for three terms as the Prime Minister of the country, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, followed by a full term from 1999 to 2004.

He was a member of the Indian Parliament for over five decades, having been elected ten times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha. PM Modi in 2014 declared Vajpayee's birthday to be marked as 'Good Governance Day'.