Atal Bihari Vajpayee: Amitabh, Rajinikanth, Hema and other Bollywood veterans pay tribute

By Vandana Srivastawa

on August 17, 2018

Former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away last evening and an era in the Indian politics has come to an end. Vajpayee was a prolific statesman, leader and a poet at heart. He was the first non-Congress leader to serve a full term as Prime Minister. He was grievously ill and was admitted at AIIMS Delhi for the past 3 months. He was put on life support after his condition worsened in the last 36 hours. Vajpayee’s demise has been mourned not only by the common man and politicians but also by the Bollywood fraternity. Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Hema Malini, Paresh Rawal, and Anupam Kher took to Twitter to pay tributes to the poet-Prime Minister.

The Bollywood veterans remembered the charismatic leader with fondness and also related some personal memory of having met him at some time. Check out their tributes and homage below.

https://twitter.com/SrBachchan/status/1030101238774284289

https://twitter.com/rajinikanth/status/1030065622174978053

https://twitter.com/dreamgirlhema/status/1030114264789348352

https://twitter.com/SirPareshRawal/status/1030111917946204162

https://twitter.com/AnupamPKher/status/1030115123971678209

Vajpayee was one of the most respected leaders of India. He even went to jail during the Quit India Movement in 1942. In the world of politics he was one of those rare leaders who was respected and liked even by his detractors because he believed that there are no enemies in politics only opposition. Vajpayee was one of the founding fathers of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was instrumental in creating the Jana Sangh too. He holds the unique distinction of being the Prime Minister for three times. He took retirement from active politics in 2005 and withdrew further from public life in 2009 after suffering a stroke that weakened his cognitive abilities and developed dementia.

The man’s simplicity and his genuineness was something that stood him a class apart from the rest of the leaders. Vajpayee, as External Affairs Minister in Morarji Desai’s government gave a speech in the United Nations in Hindi, which was a first. With the passing of Vajpayee, a golden chapter of Indian politics has ended.