Lucknow shows affection for Atal in splendid sweep of emotion

Braving heavy rains, Lucknowites came out in hordes to pay their last tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as his ashes were taken out in a procession through the main thoroughfares of the city and were later immersed in the Gomti river amid chanting of vedic mantras.

The asthikalash, carrying ashes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, were brought to Lucknow in a special plane by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Family members of Atal Bihari Vajpayee accompanied Singh. At the airport, asthikalash were handed over to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and from there it was taken to Jhulelal Park on the bank of Gomti in a procession.

The milling crowd delayed the procession by over three hours. People waited on the two sides of the road for hours. "For us, he was not only the Prime Minister but an MP. I am here to pay my floral tributes," Rajnish Sharma, a trader, said as he was waiting for over an hour near the BJP office for just a glimpse of urns containing ashes of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Rehan, who has a electric goods shops on Latouche Road, had come with Sharma. "Atal ji was a leader who did not belong to one party. 'Woh hamare neta the aur neta kisi party ke nahi hote (he was our leader and the leader does not belong to any paty)," he said while clutching rose petals in both of his hands.

He was not wrong. The 'shardhanjali sabha’ (condolnece meeting) held on the banks of the river reflected the charisma Atal Bihari Vajpayee had as top leaders of all political hues, barring the BSP, attended the function and reminisced their association with the former PM. Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, UP Congress president Raj Babbar, RLD national general secretary Anil Dubey and heads of different religious sects were among those who remembered Atal besides Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior BJP leader who spoke about Atal’s influence on their lives and how he revived the party.

“He (Atalji) was not the leader who was shy of taking risk. The biggest example was the way India carried out nuclear explosion and faced the global restriction bravely. The whole exercise was carried out in such a clandestine manner that even CIA could not get a wind out of it. This shows his leadership quality," Rajnath said while addressing the gathering during the 'shradhanjali sabha'.       

Singh talked about his association with Atal and said once he even asked him how could a Thakur be a vegetarian. “When I was Education Minister in UP, I had taken some strict decisions. Some people had complained to Atalji about that. He asked me whether the decision was taken in a good faith and when I said yes, he said go ahead," Singh said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke about the human face of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and how the country had benefited from schemes like 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin sadak Yojana' or the digital revolution which had allowed the youth to carry mobile in their pockets.

Atal's long associate Lalji Tandon got emotional and said the person was out of public glare for over a decade and when he died the whole of country came alive to have a glimpse.  "I was associated with him when I was 14. What I am today it is because of him," Tandon said in an oblique reference to his elevation as Governor of Bihar, announcement of which was made a a couple of days back.

SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, UP Congress president Raj Babar, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit, Maulayan Kalbe Jawaad, Maulana Khalid Rashid and others also remembered their association with Atal. Later, his ashes were immersed in the Gomti amid the hyms of chanting of mantras.