A tall Legend in his own lifetime

When Narendra Modi-led BJP government announced Bharat Ratna for the former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee along with the educationist Madan Mohan Malviya, it didn’t come as a surprise at all. While BJP had been appealing to previous governments to nominate former PM for the award without success; Bharat Ratna to Malviya who died eight years before the award was instituted is a new trend. India is yet to see a political party recommend an outsider for any award, leave alone the highest of the honours; in fact veteran leader LK Advani said that he had appealed to ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to recommend Vajpayee’s name for Bharat Ratna and what he received in return was just his acknowledgement. Advani spoke of him during the launch of his book, ‘Hamare Atalji’ and ‘Hamare’ he indeed is for BJP which desperately needs an icon to flaunt as its own besides Sardar Patel, who, ironically, was till his last breathe, a Congress man. Besides, Congress did manage to get three Bharat Ratnas to claim as their own.

So, the announcement comes as no big surprise, even though the critics call it saffronisation of Bharat Ratna, there is no strong opposition either; for, Indira with the Emergency fiasco behind her and even Rajiv Gandhi who had a Bofors Scam in his name were privy to the highest civilian honour. In that order, Atalji had relatively an unblemished record as a Prime Minister, barring the infamous Gujarat riots, which happened under the watch of the state government run by Modi. It was senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu who had recently revealed, “Atalji opined that the Gujarat Chief Minister (Modi) should adhere to raj dharma and step down (over the 2002 riots). But the party collectively decided that he should continue, and that decision prevailed. I was the party president, it was a difficult moment for me, but Atalji went along with the party’s decision.” ​

He will be the seventh prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Gulzarilal Nanda and Rajiv Gandhi, to receive the award, making one wonder if it should be renamed as ‘Prime Minister Ratna’. Come to think of it, it was Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi who heralded the practice of nominating themselves for the award; a practice which Atalji abhorred. He is known to have refused to nominate himself despite the party men pressurising him to do so at the peak of his popularity in 1998 after the successful nuclear test.

Intentions apart, it is easy to accept that the statesman like Vajpayee is being given a Bharat Ratna Award. He was grudgingly acknowledged by opposition members of his time as “Right Man in the Wrong Party”. He is the only non-Congress Prime Minister to have served for three terms and despite his RSS leanings, has always displayed an individual thought process. Be it his vocal denouncement of Babri Masjid demolition that he called an unfortunate incident or the Lahore Bus journey that he undertook despite opposition from his own ilk – he feared none and ideologies apart, was equally respected by people of all communities.

Even to this day, his reputation as a secular leader remains and evidently no minority leader has opposed the decision to confer him the title. In contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuing to struggle to appease the Sangh Parivars and at the same time portray himself as the leader of every citizen of India. And on various occasions, he is caught red faced by the statements of his ideological friends. The recent conversion conundrum is said to be partly the reason behind the lacklustre performance of BJP in the recent Kashmir elections.

It needs a leader with grit and experience to walk the tight rope and ‘Hamare Atalji’ knew the trick. He did proclaim his RSS background time and again, if only to appease his colleagues. However, despite his secularistic instincts, he was an out and out BJP man and was an active part of formation of Jan Sangh, failure of Janata party, reformation as Bharatiya Janata Party to the eventual rise as party in power. He managed to retain his image as the leader to reckon with despite not being with Congress.

Above all, he remained a well respected leader throughout his political career and this came across clearly when BJP was being voted out of power through a no-confidence motion in April 1999; the opposition leaders criticised the government, yet could not steer away from saving a few good words for Vajpayee. Following the debacle of the government, came the historic General Elections of October 1999, when for the first time in the history of independent India, a coalition of parties managed to get a majority and form the government and the National Democratic Alliance of over 20 parties successfully stayed in power for the full term under his leadership – no mean a task it was to maintain political stability by keeping diverse groups together. Of course, for the coalition to work Vajpayee had to forgo a few of his dream projects like executing Uniform Civil Code, though he had very firm views and was quite vocal about them.

One aspect of his that appealed him to one and all was his pleasing nature. Bandaru Dattatreya, who worked in close association with Vajpayee and served in his cabinet as Minister for Urban Development and Railway Minister remembers his interactions with much fondness. “He always had a smile on his face and would greet everyone lovingly. He visited AP many a times and cooperated tremendously in executing various welfare projects including the Valmiki Avasa Yojana that was instrumental in providing home to many. He was also behind instituting the MMTS service in Hyderabad.”

Senior Journalist Vinod Mehta who had once criticised the idea of recommending Vajpayee for Bharat Ratna too diffidently acknowledged his respect for the man who, in his unassuming and jovial way, had a way with making people around him happy, irrespective of which side they belonged, and yet got things done with unsurpassable grit. Here’s an anecdote from his interactions – “I am convinced if Vajpayee had not been prime minister, India would have sent troops to fight in George Bush's Iraq invasion. He dreaded phone calls from 'George' imploring him to send even a token force. To complicate matters, Advani on a visit to Washington had promised Bush military support in Iraq. ‘His soldiers are dying in Iraq, now he wants my soldiers to die. I will never let that happen’ - he told me.”

During that time, Vajpayee summoned A B Bardhan and H K Surjeet. The two communist leaders had launched a nation-wide campaign against any Indian involvement in Iraq. He asked them how the protests were going. They said public response was encouraging. "But I can't hear anything", he complained. The canny old fox was suggesting they raise the decibel level of the protests so he could tell Bush his hands were tied. Note the subtlety of his strategy.”

He relates yet another interesting episode – “Once when I went to see him he did not seem his usual jovial self. I asked him why he was so glum. "Aapke baad Jayalalitha ayengi" (After you Jayalalitha is coming). And then he laughed uproariously.” Sense of humour and cheerful disposition were his constant companions and he used them to deal with the deadliest of the foes and the dearest of the friends.

How else would he have managed to pull off the truce with Pakistan? He wanted to be known as the BJP PM to make a breakthrough with Pakistan. It took a Republican president (Richard Nixon) to make a breakthrough with China, he reminded his detractors. But that didn’t stop him from inspiring the Indian troops to defeat Pakistan army at Kargil. And it was during his tenure that India successfully conducted the nuclear tests at Pokhran in 1998. It was not just about administration and governance, he gave equal attention to overall development and that includes the cultural aspect. He was the ambassador of Indian culture and he was the first PM to deliver a speech in Hindi at the United Nations. And it was during his tenure that Andhra Pradesh played host to National Games.

Even as BJP is celebrating the long awaited Bharat Ratna to Vajpayee, the first one to come their way; it is also the time to reflect upon the manner in which the staunch RSS cadet had transformed to be a dear leader of the entire strata of Indian society, so much so that he held his position for three terms continuously. And, as PDP’s Mufti Mohd Sayeed had said with reference to Kashmir – Modi has to adopt the Vajpayee way. There isn’t any other way forward. a

By:Rajeshwari Kalyanam