New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in paying homage to former prime minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his first death anniversary here on Friday.
The leaders visited 'Sadaiv Atal', the memorial of Vajpayee in the morning.
The late prime minister Vajpayee, a colossus in the political firmament of India, passed away on Aug 16 last year. Born on December 25, 1924, he was 93.
In a pensive mood, the leaders offered floral tributes at the Samadhi of Late Vajpayee, who was the first BJP Prime Minister first for 13 days in 1996 and then between 1998 and 2004.
Among others, Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah and party's working president J P Nadda also paid tributes to the BJP stalwart.
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Devotional songs were sung on the occasion.
The BJP in its tributes to the deceased leader tweeted poetic lines quoting the poet-politician.
"Bharat Zamin ka Tookda nahi, jeeta jata Rashtra purush hae (India is not a mere plot of land or a nation by a boundary, its a living Nationalist Spirit by itself)".
The party's official Twitter handle passed on number of other poetries penned by Vajpayee in his illustrious career.