Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee received the country's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, at his home today.
"I thank the President for personally conferring the Bharat Ratna to Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present at Mr Vajpayee's residence in Delhi for the occasion, along with top leaders of the BJP like LK Advani. "Atal-ji is an inspiration for so many Indians like me," he tweeted.
Mr Vajpayee is 90.
He became the first non-Congress Prime Minister to serve a full five-year term - from 1998 to 2004 -and earned recognition for his ability to hold together a complex coalition. Among his boldest initiatives was 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.
A three-time Prime Minister, Mr Vajpayee is considered the gold standard of leadership in the BJP. Last year, the party had celebrated his birthday - December 25 - as Good Governance Day. The announcement of his award came a day before -- on December 24.
Mr Vajpayee, a celebrated orator, was famous for often breaking into poetry in parliament. He is often described as the Nehru of the right.
His extraordinary thrust to bridge peace with Pakistan came with the Agra summit in 2001, to which he invited President Pervez Musharraf despite the Kargil War that had been fought two years earlier.
At first, he was vocal about Mr Modi's removal, defying his party to speak about the morality of public office. But later, at the party's conclave in Goa, he softened his stand.
But when the 17th century Babri Masjid mosque fell in 1992, he was 140 km away - deliberately or accidentally, remains, for many, a matter of debate.
After his coalition lost the election in 2004, he withdrew from public life.
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