His Excellency the President, the Vice President, Speaker Madam, Ghulam Nabi Ji, Narendra Singh Ji, family members of Atal ji and all the admirers of Atal ji.

In the Central Hall of Parliament, Atalji will continue to bless us in this new form and will continue to inspire us. One can quote several different aspects in the life of Atal ji as specialties. We can go on for hours. Yet mere words will not be able to describe that towering personality. There are very few personalities like him.  After spending so many years in the Parliament, he remained out of power for decades, yet continued to serve the common man sincerely and in a committed way, continued to raise the voice for the common man and had never deviated from his path for personal gains. This is something that we all public servants must learn from his life.

There are ups and downs, wins and losses in politics. But we have seen from Atal ji's life that in any case if we continue to move towards our goals without compromising our ideals and principles, we are bound to get positive results. His speeches are the most impressive ones and the most talked about. However, if a psychological research is undertaken in the future and a detailed analysis is done, it will probably reveal that the strength of his silence is several times greater than that of his speech. In a public meeting, whenever he used to fall silent after uttering a few words, even the last person among the lakhs of people in that gathering used to get the message through his silence. He had an amazing communication skill; when to speak and when to pause. He used to be in his own world. If we ever had got the opportunity to travel along with him, we would have seen him with his eyes mostly shut. He never used to speak much. His specialty was to debate and put forth good arguments. However, more often than not when things used to heat up in party meetings, just a few words from him used to make the situation light. He could gauge the situation and took control of it. Such a personally was the strength of democracy. There are no enemies in a democracy. There is only competition and opposition in a democracy. Maintaining the spirit of respect and honour is something that our new generation must learn. Despite the competition and severe criticism from a person, how to look at that person with respect is something that we ought to learn from Atal ji.

Today, this occasion is an opportunity to pay tribute to Atal ji. I pay my homage to Hon'ble Atal ji from my side and on behalf of all my colleagues of the house.

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AKT/VJ/IG/MG/AK