Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. A sedition complaint has been filed in a Delhi court against senior Congress leader. (File photo)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a great leader. We have had many great leaders right from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi to one of the youngest leaders Rajiv Gandhi. But in the past three decades, if there is somebody who can be remembered and called a great leader, it is Vajpayeeji.
He was one of the tallest leaders of our country who had a standing in the international arena too. He was a great orator and always jovial. But one of the finest qualities in him which we cannot forget is that inspite of the fact that he belonged to a right wing political party, he was very friendly with leaders of other parties. He was not inimical to other parties or their leaders. He would differ with the leaders of other parties on policies, programmes and ideologies, but he was never inimical to any other leader or party. That was his greatness which is why even when he was the Prime Minister of India, the other parties were assured that the Prime Minister and his government will not be revengeful. He may differ with them but will not take any revenge. That is a quality which made him ever-endearing.
One could confide in him anything. When he was Prime Minister, I remember on occasions I have walked up to him without any hesitation and told him that some member of his party is not behaving well. And he would take corrective action. I was very sure that he will not part with that information. That kind of confidence we had in him.
I had a very great opportunity of working with him during 1991 to 1996 when he was the Leader of the Opposition and I was the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. I had to run a minority government. We did not have any allies. Without any alliance, running a minority government for five years was not an easy job. Of course we had to face no-confidence motions on a couple of occasions and we could successfully muster the numbers, but I could run the House for full five years most importantly because of the support of Vajpayee. We would meet two or three times a day when the Parliament was in session to sort out issues. Whatever political differences we had, we used to sort out either in his room or my room. Though in age and stature he was much bigger to me, that never came in the way of sorting out the issues. We would sort out issues over lunch or breakfast. Those were the sweet memories I have of him.
I remember one occasion, when I was the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Rajmataji (Vijayaraje Scindia) levelled some charges against me during Zero Hour. I got up and said If I propose a committee to look into the allegations, you will say it is a government committee taking the side of the minister. Vajpayee was the Leader of the Opposition, Rajmataji was deputy leader, (L K) Advaniji was the party president and Madan Lal Khurana was the chief whip. Atalji was not in the House. I said I want a Parliamentary committee to go into it and I am proposing on behalf of the Government that the committee should be headed by Vajpayee. As I said that, Vajpayeeji walked into the House. It took some time for him to reach his seat. As soon as Vajpayeeji reached the seat, he got up and asked the Speaker ‘may I know which committee’s Chairman I am being made’. Even before the Speaker replied, I got up and repeated what Rajmataji had said. Atalji got up and said ‘I am sorry’ and ‘I apologise to the Parliamentary Affairs Minister’ because perhaps Rajmata did not know Ghulam Nabi Azad well. He sat down and Rajmata walked out in a huff. Perhaps that was the only time when Rajmata staged a walkout. Instead of taking her side, he took my side. That was Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Today, whether it is my party or any other party..the leader will always take the side of his party member whether the allegation is right or wrong. He had a great regard and respect for Rajmataji. That was a different BJP. Today, we are living a different world. That was one BJP which was under the leadership of Vajpayee, today there is a totally different BJP in which we are all strangers. —As told to MANOJ C G