Paying tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the occasion of his birth anniversary, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday wrote on Twitter, “Remembering Atal Ji on his Jayanti. We are inspired by his rich service to the nation.”

He added, “He devoted his life towards making India strong and developed. His development initiatives positively impacted millions of Indians.”

Vajpayee, popularly called the ‘man of the masses’, was born on December 25, 1924. He served India as its Prime Minister thrice – 1996, 1998-99 and a full-term from 1999 to 2004.

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During his renowned political career, he held several important portfolios. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1939 and later co-founded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, along with Lal Krishna Advani.

Lauded and widely acknowledged as an excellent orator, the former PM gave some of the most acclaimed and noteworthy speeches, including his defence of the nuclear tests in Pokhran. 

As India’s External Affairs Minister in Morarji Desai’s government, he made another famous address at the United Nations General Assembly in Hindi, in which he said, “I am a newcomer to the United Nations, but India is not, having been associated actively with the Organisation from its very inception. As one who has been a parliamentarian in my own country for two decades and more, I feel a special sense of exhilaration in attending this assembly of nations for the first time.”

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Since 2014, when the BJP came to power at the Centre, Vajpayee’s birthday has been celebrated as Good Governance Day to recognise his developmental work for the nation.

Several public welfare schemes under the name of Vajpayee are under the works. The Union Cabinet has approved the Atal Bhujal Yojana, an initiative to improve groundwater management, and the government also named a strategic tunnel under Rohtang Pass after him, according to an NDTV report. 

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also the recipient of Padma Vibhushan and India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.

He passed away in August 2018.