Lage Raho Vajpayee
By KS Murlidhar
Har pachees December ko
Jeene ki ek nayi seedi chadtha hoon
Naye mod par
Auron se kam, swayam se zyaada ladtha hoon
- (Dec 25, 1993) - Atal Behari Vajpayee in Meri Ikwayen Kahaniyan
That was fifteen years ago. Fifteen years hence, Thursday, Dec 25, Atal Behari Vajpayee, who turned 85 this Christmas, ascended another step in his life and engaged in another battle - with himself, battling illness, politics, and his poetic instincts. In the process, he will reveal a little of his real self, but the sum will be more than the parts of the whole. That explains his aura, his magic.
But the show will go on for the BJP, for Vajpayee was, is and perhaps will be its only pan-Indian trump card. Can the latest pinup Narendrabhai Modi, Xerox the Leader? Unlikely, but for now, it is a case of the King is no more! Long Live the King!
With his alter ego, long time soul mate cum friend and competitor, LK Advani being pronounced as the PM-in-waiting, the Vajpayee Era is now history, and so it's time to rewind and recall his mesmerizing pull, especially on the people of Bangalore.
Right from the early seventies till a few years ago, Vajpayee's speeches at the National College grounds in Basavanagudi have been a big draw. People hung on to every word of his, mesmerized with his oratorical brilliance, debated over the hidden meanings in his pauses, and returned home with a satiated look on their faces, as if they were returning from the nearest Multiplex.
For the media too, Atalji's speeches were (and are) paisa vasool. He made good copy, and for the political commentariat it was a delightful challenge to deconstruct his speeches, read between the lines, re-interpret his phrases and scoop out the real meaning in them.
Fifty years of surviving politics is well, like breaking Don Bradman's record. In terms of his long lasting political currency, the value of his brand equity is unmatched and undiminished. Is there anyone today who has been a contemporary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India (barring perhaps Somnath Chatterji). After hearing one of his fiery speeches in Parliament, Nehru was moved enough to see in him a future Prime Minister. Today, he is ready to wage another battle with his great grandson….
For a politician, the greatest challenge is to defy being stereotyped and by this yardstick, Vajpayee wins hands down, whether in or out of power. You just cannot put a label on him, and have three people agree on it. For friend, Mulayam Singh Yadav, like for so many of his political opponents, he has for long been the right man in the wrong party. For his bitterest critics (and he has a few), he is the mask behind the saffron surge. While the masses love his poetry, for a few like Vinod Mehta, Outlook Editor, it is another of his contraptions to befool the people. A master communicator, but a Sour Face on TV. As longtime friend and rival to Advani, he has been uncompromising, but the relationships on both ends of the curve have endured till the end. A Hindutva icon as a Jan Sangh MP in the sixties, but the binding force that brought together more than two dozen warring political parties as the head of the NDA government in 2000. As BJP leader, he has smartly exploited the Hindu hurt, while simultaneously assuaging the anxieties of the Muslims. As a Parliamentarian, his record is impeccable and acknowledged even by his bitterest enemies. He has won and lost elections, has been wooed, forgotten and rediscovered by his party, and has won acclaim and approbation in equal measure.
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