Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee being conferred with Bharat Ratna by President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee being conferred with Bharat Ratna by President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and founder member of Bharatiya Janta Party was conferred Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award today.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present at the Krishna Menon Marg residence of Vajpayee in Lutyens' Delhi where he was honoured by President Pranab Mukherjee.

"I thank the President for personally conferring the Bharat Ratna to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. I pray Bharat Ratna Vajpayeeji's life continues to inspire all of us," PM Modi later said.



The announcement for the prestigious award for Vajpayee, the first Prime Minister from outside the Congress party to serve a full five-year term, came on December 24, a day before he turned 90.

Vajpayee, who was Prime Minister from 1998 to 2004, and has faded from public life due to age-related illness, is lauded as a statesman and has been often described as the moderate face of BJP.

He has been credited with taking bold initiatives, notable among them being the historic bus journey to Lahore in 1999 when he signed the landmark Lahore Declaration with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with both sides pledging to push for peace and security.

Vajpayee's detractors called him the "mask" of the RSS but still always had good words for him.

The recommendation for Bharat Ratna is made by the Prime Minister himself to the President.

Since its inception, 43 people including former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bhadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi besides singing legend Lata Mangeshkar and batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar have received the prestigious award.