Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Friday paid tributes to prominent personalities including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, several State leaders and martyrs who lost their lives during the inter-session period.
The members of the House observed a two-minute silence to pay homage to the departed souls.
On the first day of monsoon session of Haryana Assembly, the Chief Minister Manohar Lal, who is also the leader of the house, paid tributes to former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Dass Tandon, former Speaker of Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr M. Karunanidhi, former MP Ramchandra Bainda, senior journalist and former member of Rajya Sabha, Kuldip Nayyar, former Minister of Haryana, Shyam Chand, former Minister of State, Jai Singh Rana, Haryana MLA Hari Chand Middha, former MLA Gauri Shanker, Jain Muni Tarun Sagar, prominent Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj among others.
Paying rich tributes to Vajpayee, the Chief Minister read out few lines of his famous poetries and said that his poetry was marked by nationalistic fervor and human values. His poetry always inspired a sense of duty and social responsibility, he said.
Manohar Lal said, “Despite reaching the zenith of his political life, Vajpayee stayed connected to its roots and lived a life of simplicity. He was also a staunch supporter of constitutional values and principles and an ardent champion of the cause of the weaker sections.” Our nation shall always remember his distinguished services with gratitude, the Chief Minister said.
“Vajpayee was a man with no enemy. In his death, the country has suffered a great loss and a link with the Gandhian age of idealism, selfless service, struggle and sacrifice has been snapped,” he added.
Vajpayee, a Bharat Ratna, died on August 16 in New Delhi. He breathed his last at 5:05 pm at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He was 93.
Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that during BJP’s one-vote defeat in 1999, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke for around an hour, exhibiting his masterful oratory. In his long and illustrious career, Vajpayee left an indelible imprint as a diplomat and statesman, Hooda said.
After Independence, there have been no leaders like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We should learn from Vajpayee’s life, he added.
Speaker Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Kanwar Pal also read out the obituary resolutions and paid tribute to the departed souls. Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala, Leader of Congress Legislative Party (CLP) Kiran Choudhry, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prof Ram Bilas Sharma also read obituary resolutions on behalf of their parties.
The State Assembly also paid tribute to Jind MLA Hari Chand Middha, who died on August 25. The House also placed on record its deep sense of sorrow on the sad and untimely demise of those persons who died in the massive floods in Kerala in August this year.
The House also paid homage to 24 martyrs of Haryana who have made supreme sacrifices of their lives while safeguarding and protecting the unity and integrity of the motherland.
The House was later adjourned for the day as a mark of respect to departed souls.