Last June when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was once again admitted in the hospital, it was taken as a routine check-up visit. Doctors also said so and promised that he would be home within the next few days. That did not happen; his condition suddenly turned serious. Every who is who of Indian politics was rushing to AIIMS to know the wellbeing of the great leader wrestling against death once again after 1968 and challenging her since 2009 -- Maut se than gai.
Everyone went to their deity from a temple to a mosque or a church to pray for his health and recovery. Though the ultimate happened, the death won, but not without a condition. Atal told her in no uncertain terms that he would not surrender until the nation celebrated her independence day on 15th August. He breathed his last on evening of August, engulfing the entire nation nay the whole world into grief and shock.
Here was a leader who retired from active politics in 2005 and was off the public view since almost the last 9-10 years. Even if he was bed ridden and was unable to make moves, he continued to inspire millions of the nationalists and the party workers; taught them lessons in ethics and politics of values. He was really a model for other politicians to emulate, an apostle of peace, symbol of idealism and firmness, true to his motherland and a devoted leader to the cause of the people in general and the poor in particular.
Country cannot make progress unless, to use phrases from Atalji’s lexicon, it was free from Bhaya, Bhookh and Bhrashtachar (Fear, Hunger and Corruption) or till we are able to give “Har khet ko pani aur har haath ko kam” (water to every field and work to every hand). These issues still constitute a significant part of the political agenda of the nation. He not only recognized the contribution of the Jawan and the Kisan in the process of nation building and development, he also added a new adage to this slogan: Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan. That role of science and of the scientists in making a new modern India could not be less at any point of time was the message that flew from this addition.
Atal ji took the values of purity, probity, integrity and rectitude in public life to a new level. He did not merely preach them but lived them. It were these defining features of his persona that every prime minister from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi to PV Narsimha Rao not only took note of but also showed their undying faith and trust in Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a high quality leader of opposition. Atal ji never hesitated in either being an ardent critic of the government on policy matters nor shied away ever from extending unstinted support as well if the nation demanded.
He never supported criticism for the sake of it either as opposition leader or as the head of the government. He once said: Satta ka khel to chalta rahega; sarkaren jayengi, ayengi, Paties banegi bigrengi, parantu yeh desh bachna chahiye. It is these qualities embodied in him that made the whole country mourn and weep on his death.
The surging crowds on the streets of Delhi, the number of foreign representatives present at his funeral was a testament of his stature and the love and affection he enjoyed. It may well be accepted that such sobbing sea of humanity was seen even when Nehru left for his heavenly journey or at the time of the death of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. A caveat , however is that all these great leaders were the incumbent prime ministers to be immediate in the minds of the Indian populace, and also represented a Congress legacy and in some or the other way took India forward economically, strategically and in winning wars against Pakistan at least in case of Indira Gandhi in 1971.
What was distinct in the case of Atal Ji was that the popular response to grief was spontaneous and huge even though he was out of the day today memory of the people. The country was oblivious of the daily feel or touch of his presence. This raises the question what did it mean to be Atal Bihari Vajpayee?
The facets of personality that Vajpayee combined in him were multiple and diverse. He was a poet a quality that he inherited from his father; a nationalist which he inherited from the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh of which he became a member in 1939 and later became a Pracharak and its committed ideologue; a practitioner of value based politics which he learnt from his mentors in Syama Prasad Mookherjee and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya; a friend of the poor as he realized the curse of poverty as the biggest stumbling block in the way of justice, equality and freedom; an orator par excellence that made him a household name with the citizens of the country; a pioneer of Hindutva which he believed was the path to social harmony, inclusion and economic progress.
He was a staunch democrat, a man of strong will and firm determination as evidenced from his role during the Emergency and as Prime Minister when he did not hesitate to undertake Pokhran tests in the face of sanctions levied by America because doing so was necessary in the national interest. Not only was the attack on Indian Parliament another challenge thrown to him by Pakistan, the Kargil war was successfully carried out and Pakistani forces were evicted out from there. He emerges stronger from each adverse situation.
He was a realist, not an obscurantist in any sense of the term. It was his realism and capacity and ability to carry the critics along that he became the first non-Congress prime minister to not only complete the full term of the government, but also take reform process forward in the face of differences within and outside his alliance. He disinvested in more than two dozen companies including the profit making once, made education a fundamental right and brought in place a new telecom policy that today is a major media of technology revolution.
He was a believer in true secularism. Even when he declared Hindu Tan, Man, Hindu Jivan, Rag-Rag Hindu Mera Parichay, he treaded the path of Sarva Dharma Sambhav and equal and just treatment to all sections of the society. He was able to convey to the minorities especially the Muslims not to fall pray to the false and motivated political propaganda of the opposition against the BJP and judge it on the basis of their governance behaviour. That is the reason even the Muslims were in tears on his demise. He believed that Jamhuriat, Insaniyat and Kashmiriat were the real solution of Kashmir problem. Today also this seems to be the only key to restoring peace there.
The narrative here makes it clear that Atal was an unparalleled political philosopher of post-Independence India who has left a legacy following which India can be really be transformed into a new and confident developed nation. His life message of clarity of purpose, conviction, commitment and courage is to be the mantra of future India.
(Professor Rajvir Sharma is a senior political scientist. The views expressed are personal)