Atal Bihari Vajpayee 96th birth anniversary: PM Modi pays floral tribute, to release book on former PM

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla paid tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his memorial 'Sadaiv Atal' on his 96th birth anniversary on Friday.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also reached the Sadaiv Atal memorial to pay floral tribute to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 96th birth anniversary.

Before heading to the memorial, PM Narendra Modi took to Twitter and said, "He took the country to unprecedented heights of development. His efforts to build a strong and prosperous India will always be remembered."

PM Narendra Modi paid floral tribute to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 'Sadaiv Atal'. President Ram Nath Kovind also reached the memorial to pay his respects to the former prime minister.

PM  Modi to release a book

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release a book titled 'Atal Bihari Vajpayee' in Parliament on Friday -- a commemorative volume on the former Prime Minister on his 96th birth anniversary.

To mark the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which is celebrated as Good Governance Day, Prime Minister Modi will pay floral tributes and also release the book published by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

The book highlights the life and works of Vajpayee and contains notable speeches that were delivered by him in Parliament. It also contains some rare photographs from the BJP leader's public life.

Facts about Atal Bihari Vajpayee 

• Vajpayee, elected 10 times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha, was a parliamentarian par excellence, who had the trust, affection and belief of the people in his leadership.
• As a parliamentarian and particularly as Prime Minister, Vajpayee made innumerable important contributions which paved the way for a stronger economy through bold reforms and rapid development of infrastructure that gave India the Golden Quadrilateral, a mega project connecting the country through world-class express highways.
• For exceptional service to the nation and performance of the highest order, Vajpayee was conferred with the nation's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 2015.
• Before this he was also the recipient of the nation's second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1992.
• As a parliamentarian, Vajpayee was awarded the Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant Award for Best Parliamentarian in 1994, which defines him as "a role model par excellence for all legislators."
• Born on December 25, 1924, in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior, Vajpayee took his last breath during treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here on August 16, 2018.