Vajpayee : Main Atal Bhi Hoon Aur Bihari Bhi

August 17, 2019November 9, 2023 Tietler

Vajpayee was …

a Statesman – luminous poet, a sparkled parliamentarian, a selfless PM, a fiery orator who could sway the masses with just one speech, a development figure, a consensus builder, a leader not known for rash actions and above all an endearing human being.

Famous Quote: Vajpayee — **Famous Quote**

He had dedicated himself to the nation and its people. His intro spiraled into many folds. A parliamentarian for 50 years from various constituencies and someone who was accessible to the people all the time even after becoming the PM shows his sense of commitment. He was jailed during Emergency and once freed became the common man leader.

Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh once said to him as the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian politics. The Great Grand Father in a family known as Bhishma Pitamah. Historically mentioned in Mahabharata, a superhero who dedicated his entire life to his kingdom Hastinapura going to the extent of renouncing his claim to the thrown, as well as vowing to stay unmarried his entire lifetime. Atal jee has made a similar contribution to Indian politics.

From leading a delegation at United Nations to introducing Lahore bus service to resolving the grim Kashmir issue with Pakistan, Vajpayee ji won the hearts of Indians and even the opposition.

He was so acceptable among all parties that he was able to complete as a chairman of the coalition government for 5 years.

He was a man of Moral fiber, and a true nationalist by nature. A man who would never flaunt the code of conduct of parliament. On a personal level, he was a generous, humble man whose gratitude towards opposition led him to be beloved by his critics. He was the head of the Indian delegation sent to the UN to represent India during Narasimha Rao govt despite being the chief opposition leader. Such was his caliber and such was the belief of opposition parties on him.

Nobody with small willpower can become great, nobody with shattered willpower can stand high.”

Vajpayee’s Achievements & Learning:

Growth and Good governance: During the reign of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the country witnessed growth and good governance. His 6 years as Prime Minister altered political configurations of India. He introduced the ideas of ‘Good Governance’ and ‘Development’ to the national discourse.

Atalji recognized that the path to express economic growth goes through infrastructure growth and economic reforms. The opening up of the insurance sector which has been a glorious success and initiating the debate on one country one tax now GST were the main highlights. Another infrastructure booster would have been linking up of rivers but nothing much could be achieved in that project in the next 15 years.

Telecom Policy: The National Telecom Policy brought the true Telecom Revolution. The telecom penetration rate increases from less than 3% in 1999 to over 70% as of October 2012. In his book, India—The Emerging Giant, Arvind Panagariya writes that key policy reforms in telecom sector were implemented by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1999 that scripted India’s Telecom revolution.

In 1999 when bad loans to India’s telecom sector had swelled he took the game changer step by migrating the license base regime to revenue sharing model and today we have billions of telecom subscribers.

Infrastructure front: he launched two ambitious projects – National Highway Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana – To connect four metros and every village of the nation. These two projects revolutionized not only infrastructure segment but also real estate, commerce, rural economy. The improved road connectivity further integrated our great land through a network of world-class highways which place India on the fast lane to socio-economic development.

Indeed, on the highway to prosperity!

GDP growth figures: that were attained under Atalji’s leadership despite many adverse factors like a devastating earthquake in 2001; two catastrophic cyclones in 1999 and 2000; the worst drought in thirty years during 2002-2003; the Gulf War II and resultant oil crisis in 2003; the Kargil conflict of 1999; continued cross-border terrorist actions like the attack on the Parliament in Delhi in the year 2001 and to top it all the economic sanctions laid by the US post the nuclear tests of 1998.

After Pokharan-2, the whole world was against us, everyone was imposing an economical ban on India but even though he was not having a degree in economics, still he managed that crisis situation quite well.

Conducting nuclear tests was the easy part. The difficult part was getting India back into the world stream in face of sanctions, a form of technological and economic apartheid unleashed on India since Pokharan I and revisited with vengeance after Pokharan II. During the period the levels of sanctions differed but stayed in place.

Kargil War: 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan and the defeat of Pakistan was a major achievement of the government. The 1999 Kargil war, Operation Vijay, was fought between May and July 1999 and was necessitated after Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants infiltrated into India across the Line of Control. The war finally came to an end after US President Bill Clinton spoke to Vajpayee on recommendation of Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan took back its troops after suffering heavy damage.

He handled the pressure from the world’s sole superpower USA during the height of Kargil War superbly and won the war for the country militarily and more important diplomatically.

Sarkarein aayengi, Sarkarein Jayengi, lekin ye desh chalta rahna chahiye, hmara bharat badhta rahna chahiye …13-day government Vajpayee resignation Speech

Politics with ethics: There are politicians, there are statesman and then Atal ji. His principles and idea of dialogue even with the opponents have changed the environment of political discourse in India. He revered by his party men, admired by opposition, respected by world leaders and followed by common man. He was the true mass leader and the face of all the good that our civilization and Hindu religions represents.

Witty but Bold: Responding to the remark by a Pakistani foreign minister that Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir, Mr PM said “without Pakistan, India is incomplete”.

Padosi kehte hai ki ek haath se taali nahi bajti“, he came with his quick reply saying, “Humne kaha ki chutki toh baj sakti hai“

An individual is not bigger than party and party is not bigger than the nation.

His approach was people-centric rather than power centric. He had not hesitated to take bold steps towards global politics and only his bold steps led to the lift the sections imposed by the US on India for the nuclear test by India.

He had always worked with a progressive agenda and great vision and intellect instead of playing blame games. So, he had continued the legacy of Narsimha rao towards economic reform, foreign policy and nuclear power projects. Only his vision of “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” and “Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak yojana (2000)” made education a fundamental right for children aged from 6–14 and rural road connectivity.

DEATH:

Vajpayee suffered a stroke in 2009 which impaired his speech. He also suffered from dementia and long-term diabetes. For many years, he had not attended any public promises and rarely ventured out of the house, except for checkups at the AIIMS.

On 11 June 2018, Vajpayee was admitted to AIIMS in critical condition following a kidney infection. He was officially declared dead there at 5:05 pm IST on 16 August 2018 at the age of 93. Later that afternoon at 4 pm, Vajpayee was cremated with full state honors at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal near Raj Ghat, his pyre was lit by his foster daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya. Thousands of people and many dignitaries attended his funeral procession including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind.On 19 August, his ashes were immersed in Ganga river at Haridwar by his daughter Namita.

Reactions and tributes on his death:

Flags in Mauritius at half-mast in his honor: The government of Mauritius flew both the Mauritian and Indian national flags at half-mast on Friday in honour of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Around 68 percent of Mauritius’s population of nearly 1.3 million are of Indian descent. Many are descendants of Indian indentured labour brought to work on sugarcane plantations on the Indian Ocean island nation in the 19th and early 20th centuries.