Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India¡¯s tenth Prime Minister, was a persona of many parts and it would be a travesty to just remember this great son of India simply as a three-time Head of Government, or as a Member of Parliament for over four decades that saw his dominant presence in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) for ten terms and in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) twice.
His was a personality and an appeal that transcended all walks of life, be it politics, media, literature, debate, prose and or poetry.
His was a personality that appealed to all age groups in society, be it the wise and the aged, or with the vibrant youth in an independent India from the 1940s till 2009 when he retired from active politics due to his deteriorating health.
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A founding member of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which he headed between 1968 and 1972, Vajpayee was always seen as an individual with exceptional qualities of leadership, a skilled orator and a poet par excellence.
People across all walks of life saw in him a politician who possessed the ability to convert criticism into a win-win proposition.
Who can ever forget his stirring and iconic speech delivered in chaste Hindi on the floor of Parliament in 1996, when his government of a mere 13 days was being unseated through a no-confidence motion?
The master politician that he was, he astutely turned growing negativity against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during a debate on a confidence motion to the party and his advantage by seeking to win the confidence of the people that had then made the BJP the single largest party in Parliament.
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At his rambunctious best, Vajpayee said: ¡°I have spent decades doing this, but today, I have been at the receiving end of much personal criticism... I thank the mere four parties that stood by me, including the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal, despite everyone else ganging up against us...
I have been accused that I am craving for power and that my actions are a result of my craving for power... If the people have given my party the highest number of seats, should I shy away from staking a claim for power? .... Should I run away from the battlefield to betray the confidence reposed by the people in making us the single largest party...?
It was a political speech that had the attention of the entire nation at that time and it went a long way in shaping public opinion and even today when one hears it, it evokes both admiration and awe.
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It was a time when the Left Front, the Congress and regional parties were on a criticizing spree, with some describing him as ¡®Hitler¡¯ and a champion of ¡®Hindutva¡¯ and ¡®Communalism¡¯.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee held great appeal among both the young and the old and this mass attraction towards a statesman only increased with time.
When India famously won the 1971 war against Pakistan, Indian political lore suggests that Vajpayee, putting aside political partisanship, described then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as a representation of ¡°Ma Durga¡± (Goddess Durga).
In Vajpayee, between the mid-1990s and till 2004, the country¡¯s youth saw a man who could steer the ship safely across turbulent waves to reach its intended destination.
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We only need to look at his government¡¯s achievements in 1998-1999 and again between 1999 and 2004 as proof.
He was the man, who in May 1998, gave the green signal for India¡¯s decision to conduct five underground nuclear tests in the desert in the Pokhran area of Rajasthan, 24 years after the country had conducted its first nuclear test in 1974. Pokhran-II attracted intense international criticism and financial sanctions, but was popular domestically.??
Vajpayee was the person who pushed for full-scale diplomatic peace with Pakistan with the historic inauguration of a bus service between Delhi and Lahore in February 1999.
He played a major role in trying to resolve the Kashmir dispute and other conflicts of interest with Pakistan. The Lahore Declaration of 1999 espoused a commitment to dialogue, expanded trade relations and mutual friendship and envisaged a goal of denuclearised South Asia.
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It was unfortunate that his initiative of neighbourly goodwill came unstuck between May and July of the same year through the Kargil War, exposing Pakistan¡¯s diabolical ways.
He was the man who proposed the name of A P J Abdul Kalam, one of India¡¯s top space scientists, for the office of President of India. It is another matter that even today Kalam, the country¡¯s 11th president (2002-2007), is widely and popularly acknowledged as ¡°The People¡¯s President¡±.
Under Vajpayee¡¯s leadership, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) acquired a confidence to invest in India¡¯s future and helped steer the country through difficult economic times to move ahead and achieve a boom of sorts.
A staunch nationalist, the youth of India saw in Vajpayee a Prime Minister who had both courage and conviction to create a strong and unified nation with ample opportunities for GenX and GenNext to succeed.
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Vajpayee was also admired for his brand of Hindi poetry, as it swayed the masses at the height of his political prowess.
His poems had a resonance that attracted people from all walks of life, even his political opponents.
Some of his famous poems include:
. Aao phir se diya jalaaen (a poem on optimism even in the darkest of times)
. Mere Prabhu (a poem reflecting his humbleness) and
. Geet naya gaata hoon (A message of hope for the nation)
What more can be said of the man and the politician, that even eight years after he quit politics over health, a youth convention was held last October in sensitive and turbulent Srinagar where his message of? ¡°Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat¡± was recalled.