Remembering Atalji

 

 

Apropos the cover story (Immortal Atal), Organiser, August 26, 2018, and other related articles beautifully paid tribute to the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of Bharatiya politics Atal Behari Vajpayee. The extracts from Lal Krishna Advani’s autobiography were placed well as a tribute since not many can delineate the political journey of Atalji as comprehensively as Advaniji. It was also great to read the personal reminiscences of many key advisors like Ashok Tandon and Shakti Sinha, who served under Atal ji and closely watched him, both as a PM and as a person. Ashok Tandon has rightly described Atalji as a ‘great consensus builder’. Adjectively it does justice to the legacy of the man, who successfully forged a great coalition and gave Bharat its first non-Congress Government, which completed its five-year term.

 

 

The editorial (Immortal Atal), Organiser, August 26, 2018, beautifully sums up that Atal Behari Vajpayee was often referred to as the ‘right man in the wrong party’, but how he was never ashamed of his core convictions and inspiration he had taken from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It is remarkable that Atalji said, “Sangh is my soul”, which the editorial reminds us. Therefore, we must underline the fact that Atalji was also a manifestation of various values and morals which RSS imbibes in its swayamsevaks.

 

 

 

Apropos the Cover Story (Immortal Atal), the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should gear up for installing statues of great statesman and best orator Atal Behari Vajpayee on his coming birth-anniversary on December 25 at some important points in New Delhi with a prominent road, some housing-complex, colony and other institutions also be named after him. Rather than creating memorials in his name, institutions, roads, colonies, hospitals and other such projects like new coming Jewar Airport near New Delhi can be named after him as his living public-utility memorials in memory of Atalji.

 

 

Apropos the article (Somnath Da: Not a Communist), Organiser, August 26, 2018, incisively argues that Somnath Chatterjee was born in a household which celebrated the Dharmik polity and how he died as a non-Communist. It has been rightly suggested in the article that throughout his life, Somnath Da remained a statesman who was beyond the ‘party-line’. How he performed his role as the Speaker of Lok Sabha and why his party— the Communist Party of India (Marxist)—expelled him for not bending down to their dictates remains a testimony to his political values.

Apropos the article (Memorable Session), Organiser, August 26, 2018, brings forth the fact how this Monsoon Session of Parliament was indeed a memorable one. It is true that in recent years, the Parliament has seen more disruptions than legislative business. However, it is a welcome move that this Monsoon Session was an exception as the Government ensured passage of as many as 20 Bills.