Never thought I would attend a meeting where Vajpayee would not be present: LK Advani

The prayer meeting saw several senior political leaders apart from L K Advani including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and many others in attendance.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee with LK Advani at the BJP rally at Ramlila Maidan after parting ways with the Janata Party in April 1980. (Express Archive)

Senior BJP leader L K Advani condoled former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death Monday and said that he never thought he’d attend a meeting at which Vajpayee wouldn’t be present.

“I have addressed several public meetings but I had never thought that I will once have to address a meeting like this, a meeting where Atal ji would not be there,” he said.

Advani, who was closely associated with Vajpayee for nearly 65 years, confessed that he watched the latter closely and shared various experiences, books and films with him while working.

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The prayer meeting saw several senior political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and many others in attendance.

Other leaders who attended the prayer meeting include Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, former Jammu & Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah as well as Yoga guru Ramdev. Vajpayee’s daughter and granddaughter Namita and Niharika Bhattacharya were also a part of the prayer gathering.

Here’s what other leaders had to say at the prayer meet:

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Vajpayee:

Singh said that Vajpayee’s popularity was not an effect of him being the country’s prime minister, instead if he were working in any other social or political sector, he would have been as famous.

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RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat shared his thoughts on Vajpayee and said:

“Atal ji’s words and his life…be it someone who watched him closely or saw him from far away, everyone found him to be the same & believed in him”

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at the prayer gathering expressed nostalgic times and told that:

Vajpayee had managed to bring opposition party leaders together in one room, even after his death which he believed was great. He shared that during their times, though both the leaders belonged to different parties, they would have lunch and tea in each others office.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah shared:

“Wo Wazir-e-Azam nahi Hindustan ke dilon ke maalik they. He was large-hearted. No one had a heart like him (He wasn’t just India’s Wazir-e-Azam, but also the ruler of people’s hearts.)

Yoga guru Ramdev voiced his thoughts on the former prime minister saying that:

Vajpayee made India proud till he was alive and had set an example which shall be remembered for ages to come.

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