Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A pioneer in the field of Education

There are a lot of unknown facts about Atal ji’ s early phase of political life. His foray into electoral politics began with the parliamentary constituency of Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh.

Balrampur is a small town in present-day Uttar Pradesh, about 170 km from Lucknow. Before independence, it used to be a talukdari estate under a king. Thus, it was relatively untouched by the nationalist movement. Balrampur estate was well administered, and Raja Saheb of Balrampur was way ahead of his times. He had made arrangements for education, healthcare, street lights, drainage and supply of electricity to his subjects when it was still a dream for other surrounding areas. In these circumstances, Atal ji was invited by local Jan Sangh and RSS volunteers to contest the second general elections in 1957. He had never travelled to this part of the state.

He was a thirty-two-year-old young man and rising star of the newly formed Bhartiya Jansangh BJS party. He unsuccessfully contested the Lucknow parliamentary election held in 1955, where he gave a tough fight to the ruling party despite many constraints of a new entrant. It helped him build up a reputation of an orator par excellence. Atal ji reminisces about his foray from Balrampur.

Despite the constraints on available resources, Atal ji won his first parliamentary election from Balrampur in 1957 by a convincing margin. A young, energetic, and dynamic person who was thirty-two years of age, full of nationalistic and patriotic spirits, entered the parliament. This is the starting point of our story. Balrampur was responsible for shaping his personality and always had a special place in his heart, and the people of Balrampur reciprocated.

He contested three Lok Sabha elections from Balrampur. Won in two and lost by mere two thousand votes in the second due to Machiavellian manipulation and the misinformation campaign by the Congress party, which he was able to avenge in 1962. He was focused on Balrampur for fifteen formative years of his life. The people of Balrampur had many fond memories of that time. There has been an immortal mutual bond of love, affection and admiration for him. I had an opportunity to witness it firsthand when I traveled far and wide in the interiors of this constituency (now it is part of the Shrawasti Lok Sabha seat) in 2013-14.

Coming from a family of teachers, he was appalled by his constituency’s poor state of education and focused on its betterment. This is why the “Bhartiya Shiksha Prasaran Samiti” was born, which was registered in Gonda, headed by Shri Pratap Narayan Tiwari and the Samiti did pioneering work in spreading education in this backward area.

The principal of a local school and a senior RSS functionary Shri Ram Kripal ji, his concern about the sorry state of these schools “Management committees of these schools have either become rudderless or disjointed. If they are brought together with a renewed sense of purpose , they can serve a greater purpose and it will be our true tribute to Atal ji.”