End of an Era: Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away at 93
New Delhi: Former Prime Minister and senior BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee breathed his last at the age of 93 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here this evening.
In a press release, the authorities of AIIMS announced that the former Prime Minister died at 5.5 PM.
Former Prime Minister & Bharat Ratna #AtalBihariVaajpayee passes away in AIIMS. He was 93. pic.twitter.com/r12aIPF5G0
— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2018
The senior saffron leader was undergoing treatment at the hospital since on June 11. He was admitted with a kidney infection, chest congestion, urinary tract infection and low urine output.
He was put on life support system for the last couple of days.
A slew of senior leaders and Ministers including Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Vajpayee at AIIMS earlier today. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi were also among others who visited him.
Vajpayee, who was born on 25 December, 1924, served as the PM, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, for a period of eleven months from 1998 to 1999, and then for a full term from 1999 to 2004.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha ten times and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He served as the Member of Parliament for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh until 2009 when he retired from active politics due to health concerns.
Vajpayee was among the founding members of the erstwhile BharatiyaJana Sangh which he also headed from 1968 to 1972.
When the Janata government collapsed, Vajpayee restructured the Jana Sangh into the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) in 1980.
The government of India had conferred the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 2014.
Meanwhile President Ram Nath Govind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Vajpayee’s sad demise.
Extremely sad to hear of the passing of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, our former Prime Minister and a true Indian statesman. His leadership, foresight, maturity and eloquence put him in a league of his own. Atalji, the Gentle Giant, will be missed by one and all #PresidentKovind
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) August 16, 2018
Atal Ji’s passing away is a personal and irreplaceable loss for me. I have countless fond memories with him. He was an inspiration to Karyakartas like me. I will particularly remember his sharp intellect and outstanding wit.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 16, 2018