Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a decisive leader, says RSS

New Delhi: Paying his heartfelt tributes to the former Prime Minister and BJP patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee, party president Amit Shah on Thursday said Vajpayee nursed the party to make it a “banyan tree” and left an indelible mark in Indian politics.

The RSS said Atal Behari Vajpayee was a decisive leader who was acceptable to all and the vacuum created by the demise of such a tall leader will not be easy to fill.

“With his ideas and conduct, he established the Indian cultural values in his public life. He was an intense, decisive leader who was acceptable to all,” the RSS statement read. A former RSS prachark, Vajpayee had once described the RSS as his soul in an article written by him in 1995 in the RSS weekly Organiser. In his condolence message, Union minister Arun Jaitley said the BJP patriarch’s vision, oration, poetry, blended with his national commitment earned him respect from both friends and opponents.

“Saddened by the demise of Atalji, unquestionably one of the tallest leaders of India.  His contribution to India and India’s democracy will be always remembered,” tweeted Mr Jaitley.

Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Mr Vajpayee was the “main pillar of the BJP from JanSangh days, articulated the ideology of the party effectively, ensured that it gets respect in the country and laid a solid foundation of the Party, which has become the main pillar of India today.” He said Mr Vajpayee was “an epitome of dignity, gave a new height to the sanctity of Parliament by his powerful interventions and eloquence in his Parliamentary association spanning over 50 years.”

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