Glimpses of Vajpayee's life showcased at exhibition

An exhibition inaugurated here Saturday chronicles the life of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee - from a rare family portrait, a monochromatic close-up picture to pictures of meetings with world leaders.

The exhibition is being organised in a run-up to his 90th birthday Dec 25.

The exhibition titled "Vikas Purush, Poorv Pradhan Mantri Atal Bihari Vajpayee" is mounted by the Department of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) of the information and broadcasting ministry in the sprawling lawns of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in a colourful marquee.

Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley while inaugurating the exhibition said that this is a part of celebrations of the 90th birthday of the former prime minister.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that Vajpayee's birthday will be observed as "Good Governance Day".

The exhibition comprises of over 250 photographs reflecting Vajpayee's vibrant life and monumental moments of his political life during which he made many important decisions such as India conducting nuclear tests in Pokhran in Rajasthan in 1998 under his leadership and initiating friendship with Pakistan by signing the historical bilateral agreement "Lahore Declaration" with his counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

There are also many photographs of Vajpayee with world leaders like Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, George Bush, among several others.

Vajpayee was also the external affairs minister in the Morarji Desai government from 1977 to 1979, and monochromatic photographs of him visiting and meeting international delegates of countries like Germany, Mauritius, Tanzania and Vietnam are on display.

These photographs have been sourced from internal photo agency of DAVP and some of his personal photographs were collected from private collectors and friends.

Apart from this, several of his speeches have also been put up and are screened through television and scrollers. The footages have been sourced from Doordarshan and All India Radio.

The exhibition is on till Dec 25 and is open to the public.