A 100 rupee commemorative coin in  honor of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Recalling the political persona of Atal ji, Prime Minister said that Along part of Atal Ji's career was spent in the opposition benches but he always spoke about national interest and never compromised it.

Addressing the gathering, Modi said he would go to Vajpayee's memorial on Tuesday to reiterate his commitment to the ideology and path shown by the statesman.

"Atal Ji wanted democracy to be supreme. He built the Jana Sangh. But, when the time came to rescue our democracy he and others went to Janata Party. Likewise, when the choice was between remaining in power or comprising on ideology, he left Janata Party and formed the BJP," the prime minister said.

He  also said, the party, which "Atalji built brick by brick" has become among the largest political parties.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Senior BJP leader L K Advani and BJP President Amit Shah were also present on the occasion.

(Featured image : India today)