Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away: Schools, colleges in Delhi to observe holiday today

All the schools and colleges in Delhi will remain closed tomorrow to mourn the sad demise of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, announced Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia on Thursday. “All Delhi govt. offices, schools and other institutions shall remain closed tomorrow, as a mark of respect for our dear departed Sh Atalji (sic),” Sisodia said in a tweet. In another tweet, he said: “All schools including private schools shall also remain closed.”

Vajpayee breathed his last at AIIMS Delhi on Thursday at the age of 93. In a medical bulletin, AIIMS said: “It is with profound grief that we inform about the sad demise of former prime minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 5.05 pm on 16.08.2018. Shri Vajpayee was admitted in AIIMS on 11.06.2018 and was stable in the last 9 weeks under the care of a team of AIIMS doctors. Unfortunately his condition deteriorated over the last 36 hours and he was put on life support systems. Despite the best of efforts, we have lost him today. We join the Nation in deeply mourning this great loss.”

Expressing the grief, PM Narendra Modi tweeted, “India grieves the demise of our beloved Atal Ji. His passing away marks the end of an era. He lived for the nation and served it assiduously for decades. My thoughts are with his family, BJP Karyakartas and millions of admirers in this hour of sadness. Om Shanti.” “Atalji will be remembered as the pioneer of the first ever stable non-Congress coalition government at the Centre and I had the privilege of working as his deputy for six years,” said senior BJP leader L K Advani. “Vajpayeeji stood among the tallest leaders of modern India, who spent his whole life serving our great country. His services to our nation will be remembered for a long time to come,” said former PM Manmohan Singh.