Vajpayee turns 87,BJP demands ‘Bharat Ratna’ for him

After wishing Vajpayee,Rajnath Singh said the former Prime Minister deserved Bharat Ratna for his contributions to the country.

“The country can never forget Vajpayee’s contribution to parliamentary democracy. Therefore,I humbly request the Government to honour him with the Bharat Ratna,” he told reporters.

“At a time when there is a steady decline of values in Indian politics,Vajpayee is a leader who upheld commitments to these values for the last 55 years,” he said.

BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain described Vajpayee as a “living legend” and “tallest leader” in Asia and said he should be conferred with ‘Bharat Ratna’.

“Everyone should raise above party affiliation to support him for the honour as there is no bigger leader than him today,” he said.

Senior party leader Jaswant Singh,who also greeted Vajpayee,expressed his “sense of gratitude” to the former Prime Minister and to the party for having given him the opportunity to serve the country under him.

“That has been the greatest period of my life,” Singh said.

He,however,expressed concern about his health,saying is “health is of course under strain”.

Meanwhile,in Vajpayee’s erstwhile Lok Sabha constituency Lucknow,Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley lauded the veteran politician for his contribution to the country’s politics and development.

“Vajpayeeji gave a direction to nationalist ideology of the BJP and became its voice and face,” Jaitley said during a function held on the occasion.

He said Vajpayee started a new trend in politics and introduced the world to the political maturity of the country.

“All through he kept the interest of humanity in mind,while discharging different tasks and this put him into a different league,” he said,while appealing to BJP workers to follow both his style of functioning.

Speaking on the occasion,Lalji Tandon,the local MP,said “Vajpayeeji’s birthday is an occasion for the party workers to reiterate their resolve for nation building.”

While lauding former Prime Minister’s oratory skills,Tandon said “he expressed himself forcefully before the world in his unique style.”

Tandon also praised Vajpayee for his clean image and said “he is the only leader who has no property,no family or house.”

Another BJP leader Kalraj Misra cited incidents where Vajpayee upheld the morale.

“There had been two incidents when he asked me to do something which I was not inclined towards initially and later at the party workers meeting he publicly acknowledged them.”

The giant figure of India politics also drew praise from his rivals,who unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections against him.

“In this age when political opponents cross every limit to slay their opponents,there had never been any criticism from his side,even though I was a novice contesting against him ” Madhu Gupta,who contested against Vajpayee for Lucknow seat as a Samajwadi Party candidate in 2004,said.

Gupta termed Vajpayee “a wonderful soul.”

Raj Babbar,who was a Samajwadi Party nominee in 1998,said “it was the respect for the veteran leader which made it difficult for me to enter into the electoral battle against him.”

“It was a matter of pride to contest along with him in the election where no ill word was exchanged nor any personal attack was made,” he said.