A Permanent Remembrance Of Vajpayee In Parliament: Life-Size Portrait Of Former PM Unveiled By President Kovind

A life-size portrait of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was today (12 February 2019) unveiled at an event in the Central Hall of Parliament by President Ram Nath Kovind, reports ANI.

A number of political dignitaries were present on the occasion, such as Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Sumitra Mahajan and leaders from among other parties as well.

Vajpayee, who passed away last year on 16 August, was born in Gwalior on 25 December 1924 and had served as the prime minister of the country during three terms: the first being of 13 days in 1996, next for 13 months between 1998 to 1999, and finally a full term between 1999 to 2004.

The portrait was installed following a unanimous decision taken by the Parliament’s Portrait Committee, headed by Mahajan, on 18 December. Also, in attendance at the meet were Deputy Speaker M Thambi Durai, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, BJD MP B Mahtab, TMC leader Sudip Bondopadhyay, among others from a variety of different political parties.

The Central Hall already has portraits of several former prime ministers, namely Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

The installation of Vajpayee’s portrait at such a symbolic location follows the release of a commemorative coin in his memory on 24 Decembre 2018 by Prime Minister Modi. The coin depicts the Emblem of India on one side and Vajpayee’s image on the other with his name written out in the Devanagari and Roman scripts.