End of an Era: Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25th Dec 1924- 16th Aug 2018)
End of an Era: Will miss you Atalji. I had personal events attended by him in past. Great Statesman, Orator, Consensus Politician, Journalist Poet, Social Servant, Parliamentarian and PM.
I was 5 years old. It was 1979 Children’s Year. I joined a camp which had swimming coaching for young children. There is a well near the tank which was treated as final test. They had announced a competition. One who jumps firsst in the well (around 20-25 ft jump into water will get a cricket bat and second will get season ball. Many tried , but I finally made up my mind with assumption that someone will rescue me as there weer coaches swimming around in the well. I jumped and everyone clapped. I got the bat. No one else did so I asked them to give me ball as I will jump again. Then it was a ritual that they used to make me jump whenever any guest came. One day there was a guest. Then foreign minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He appreciated my jump and patted my back with saying “Jite raho aise hi dar ka saamna karo”
Today I have no words to say as Atalji left us. Those images still fresh. Atalji was multifaceted personality. As a Freedom fighter, social worker, journalist, Orator, Poet, Politician, Parliamentarian, Minister and PM. He was respected all across his journey in above facets.
As a Freedom Fighter, he joined Quit India movement in 1942 and designed few innovative plans to achieve its ends.
As a Social Worker, he chose RSS as medium of service, he did lot of relief work, structured the organization at very young, His social work continued in politics as well.
As a Journalist, he was entrusted task of of organizational publications in Political party and RSS. He did good writing on current issue which continued through his columns in papers, interviews, speeches and so on.
As an Orator, his speeches are archived and shared across social media even today. I remember waiting for him to arrive at local ground to hear him. I was spellbound as other audience. He was mass enchanter. His speeches in Parliament, political rallies, DD releases, UN are still remembered. Though his pauses very used by each stand up mimicry artist but it created some effect.
As a Poet, he was creative, enthralling and his poems showed ways to those depressed, under motivated. It created ethereal effect across life space.
As a Politician
As Parliamentarian, Like many popular politicians, Atalji gave people diverse reasons to admire him. For nostalgia, he represented a living bridge between the post-Independence era and our own. In 1957, when Atalji first entered the Lok Sabha, Jawaharlal Nehru was still prime minister. The last time Atalji won a Lok Sabha election, in 2004, was also the year Rahul Gandhi first entered Parliament. So aptly he represented history of Modern India post Independence and was instrumental in key contribution when he was in power. He build consensus across parties ensuring smooth functioning. He had once termed Indira Gandhi as Goongi Gudiya to later praise her as Durga during 71 wall. He was first to support Pokharan I. He was sent to UN to represented India when PV Narsimharao was PM and he was in Opposition he did not make any political internal comments neither in Press nor in his speech. He held fort for Janasangh after death of Deenadayal Upadhyaya was a display of strength and character. The rise of BJP from 2 seats in 84 to vast majority in 2014 was envisioned by Atalji’s vision and strategies. As foreign Minister in 77 government his speech at UN was historical. He tried to build bridges with many countries
