Chief ministers of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and several other leaders today described former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a visionary and statesman whose death was an irreparable loss to the nation.
Vajpayee died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in New Delhi, where he was admitted since June 11. He was 93.
His death drowned the country in grief and sorrow and emotions poured out as people remembered the BJP patriarch for the variety of skills he possessed, including his powerful poetries and the unwriterliness about them that made him exhilarating to read.
The leaders recalled their association with the former prime minister and his leadership in taking India forward.
"A powerful orator, parliamentarian of unmatched debating skills, an able administrator, and a statesman of rare foresight, his contribution to the country and its economy as the Prime Minister of India will remain etched in golden letters," Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said.
Khattar said Vajpayee's commitment to take India to greater heights made him rollout economic reforms and "earned him the Pokhran repute", which put the country on the road to become a nuclear power.
In May 1998, India conducted nuclear tests in Pokhran in Rajasthan. Speaking in Parliament on the tests, Vajpayee had said the Pokhran-2 nuclear tests were conducted "neither for self-glorification, nor for any display of machismo". He had said the decision to go for the tests was based on the country's requirement of "minimum deterrence, which should also be credible."
Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said Vajpayee was "the tallest Indian he has worked with and one of the greatest statesmen on the world stage."
"Few will ever display the courage to pursue peace like Mr Vajpayee did. His bus journey to Lahore (in Pakistan) symbolized that courage as did his approach to Kashmir issue."