There are many images of Atal Bihari Vajpayee that leave a lasting impression. He will be remembered for the nuclear tests at Pokhran and the victory in the Kargil war that came during his second term as Prime Minister, and also for his powerful oratory and the dry wit that accompanied it, but the New Delhi to Lahore bus ride he undertook, waving from the bus window, is one of the images that will remain etched in people’s minds. He was a politician who captured the imagination of the nation, no matter which side you were on. The three-time Prime Minister, the first non-Congress PM to complete a full term, who died on August 16, was perhaps the only statesman that the country has produced in contemporary times.
A Member of Parliament since 1957, Vajpayee became External Affairs Minister in the Janata Party government of 1977, having earlier spent time in jail during the Emergency. When the Janata Party broke up he founded the Bharatiya Janata Party, and along with Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, took the fledgling party from two seats in the Lok Sabha to spread its presence across the nation and become the first Prime Minister from the BJP.
Within Parliament or outside it, Vajpayee stood tall. Losing a no-confidence motion in 2009 by one vote, Vajpayee refrained from any direct attack against the Congress president when speaking in Parliament, he returned as Prime Minister winning the ensuing election. He was also the only person in his party who said that the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 was unfortunate and should not have happened. Following the demolition, within the same decade, Vajpayee came to be sworn in as Prime Minister thrice, at a time when the BJP was unable to draw much support from across the political spectrum, beyond the party’s traditional allies. It was he who could attract support, and knowing this well, the party projected him as PM. And when the Gujarat riots took place in 2002, during his third term as PM, Vajpayee called on the then Chief Minister of the State, to observe his Raj Dharma and not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed and religion.
After five years in power, and hoping for a return to the treasury benches, the BJP in 2004 went for early polls on the India Shining slogan. The slogan did not work the magic for the BJP, but as a politician, Vajpayee did shine in the Indian political field. He was the one politician who was able to build bridges between parties, was acceptable to all, even once being called the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian politics, a reference made by another former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to illustrate the respect in which Vajpayee was held by all parties.
With Vajpayee’s death, India has lost its last statesman, a giant in the political field, a democrat to the core who dabbled in the arts, publishing six books of poetry, for which he will also be remembered. There will be no more spellbinding speeches from Vajpayee, nor verses from his pen. He will be missed, and though in recent years he had kept away from the public eye, he was remembered and he will continue to remain in the minds of the people. For Vajpayee the politician stood a cut above the rest, overshadowing his peers and towering over his successors.
