Several leaders lined up at the ‘Sadaiv Atal’ memorial in Delhi Wednesday to pay tributes to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his death anniversary. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also paid a visit to the memorial, stated that India benefitted greatly from Vajpayee’s leadership.

In a tweet, PM Modi said, “I join the 140 crore people of India in paying homage to the remarkable Atal Ji on his Punya Tithi. India benefitted greatly from his leadership. He played a pivotal role in boosting our nation’s progress and in taking it to the 21st century in a wide range of sectors.”

President Droupadi Murmu was also present alongside PM Modi at the memorial. Union Ministers
Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur and Nitin Gadkari, among others, also paid homage to the
former prime minister at Vijay Ghat. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal called Vajpayee a “towering
personality”, saying that several NDA colleagues paid tributes at the memorial in large numbers.

Meanwhile, leaders from BJP allies also paid tributes at the memorial. NCP’s Praful Patel, Union Minister and Apna Dal (Sonelal) leader Anupriya Patel and HAM’ were present at the site.

Speaking to reporters, Manjhi, who recently withdrew support from the Nitish Kumar government in
Bihar and declared its support to the NDA, said, “Modi ji is generous to try to take everyone along even
though his party has the majority. In the coming days, he’ll again get the complete majority. He wants to
do complete development just like Vajpayee ji

Nitish ji needs to think about why he is separated. Atal ji gave so much respect and love to him. He needs to think that today he’s with people whom he said to be a part of jungle raj,” Manjhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Vajpayee served as the prime minister of India three times. His first stint lasted only for 13 days in 1996. He was the prime minister of the country for 13 months from 1998 to 1999 and then from 1999 to 2004. He passed away on August 16, 2018 at the age of 93.