India lost an illustrious leader yesterday when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee died at the age of 93. His magnanimity can be seen from the reactions coming from not only his party stalwarts(Bharatiya Janata Party) but from the leaders of the Opposition and global personalities.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama lamented the demise of Vajpayee, dubbing him as an “eminent national leader”, a “friend” and an “eloquent” supporter of Tibetan people, reported PTI.
The Dalai Lama after getting the news of Vajpayee’s sad demise wrote a letter to the latter’s foster daughter Namita Bhattacharya on Thursday.
PTI quoted him, saying, “We met regularly during the course of his career and I continued to visit him at (his) home after he retired. Shri Vajpayee was a truly dedicated politician. With his passing away, India has lost an eminent national leader. His eloquent support of the Tibetan people began in the late 1950s. Since then, he regularly took Indian governments to task in Parliament, prompting them to take a stronger stand on Tibet.”
He added, “I feel privileged to have known him and am honoured to have counted him as a friend.” The Dalai Lama also offered condolences to poet-politician Vajpayee’s relatives, friends and colleagues.
Vajpayee took his last breath at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in Delhi yesterday following a prolonged illness.
Today, his foster daughter Bhattacharya lit the funeral pyre accompanied by 21-gun salute at the Smriti Sthal.