Former PM’s memories, anecdotes haunt Lucknow

Lucknow: It was on a sultry afternoon in 1999 that the road to the district collectorate was packed to capacity.

Cries of “hamara PM kaisa ho, Atal Behari jaisa ho” reverberated as Atal Behari Vajpayee went in to file his nominations for the elections to the 13th Lok Sabha. Half an hour later when Vajpayee came out of the collectorate and began to address the crowd, he started with ‘Arre bhai pehle mujhe MP to banao, phir PM banunga”.

The crowd cheered lustily and the former Prime Minister went on to narrate an anecdote.

“Once there was a village where a disease had struck and people were dying. A saint advised the villagers to dig a large pit and on a moonless night, every resident should pour a bowl of milk into it to escape the curse of death. The pit was dug and people waited for ‘amavasya’ (moonless night). Every villager went to the pit and made their contribution as advised by the saint. The next morning, people were shocked to find the pit filled with water. Apparently, every villager thought that other would pour milk into the pit and if they poured water instead, no one would find out so everyone actually poured water instead of milk,” he said and then added, “You all must go and vote and not just depend on your neighbours like the people of this village did.”

Mr Vajpayee, known for his excellent oratory skills, infused his speeches with anecdotes and emotional optimism that made people wait for hours to hear him. Unlike most politicians of the day, he made sure that every speech was different from the previous one. “Aap ko bhi to naya intro chahiye,” he once quipped to a journalist.

Mr Vajpayee, from 1991 to 2004, when he represented Lucknow in the Lok Sabha, established a bond with his voters. His security personnel were instructed not to push away voters and he made sure to meet those that came with problems.

Sadia Khan, a 50-year-old widow, recalls how her house had been usurped by her brother-in-law after she lost her husband in 2000 and none of the officials helped her because the brother-in-law was politically well connected.

“A month later, Mr Vajpayee came to Lucknow and I tried to get an appointment but failed. So I went and sat behind a car near the gate of the Raj Bhawan. As soon as Mr Vajpayee’s convoy came, I started waving my hands frantically, hoping that he would stop but the convoy sped into the Raj Bhawan. I was disappointed but ten minutes later, a police official came and said Mr Vajpayee wanted to meet me. I was surprised and went in. Mr Vajpayee said he had seen me and inquired about my problem. He immediately summoned the district magistrate and asked him to restore my house to me. Within two hours, I got my house back and when I later sent a letter of thanks to the Prime Minister, I got a reply”.

Mr Vajpayee had a sense of transparency which is rare to find in politicians.In 1999, after he became Prime Minister, Mr Vajpayee was invited for a ‘Meet the Press’ programme at the UP Press Club.

The then UP Press Club secretary Suresh Bahadur Singh recalls, “Mr Vajpayee was fond of non-vegetarian food and lunch was served to him in a VIP enclosure. A photographer managed to sneak in and clicked a photograph of Mr Vajpayee with chicken legs on his plate. I immediately took the photographers aside and asked him not to use the picture. Mr Vajpayee overheard me and said, “No let him use it if he wants. I eat non-vegetarian food and I do not want to hide this. People should know this”.

The photograph was prominently published  in an Urdu daily and the next time when Mr Vajpayee came to Lucknow, he called the Press Club secretary and thanked him for the ‘delicious’ food.

Political tolerance was an integral part of Mr Vajpayee’s nature. In 1999 elections, Mr Vajpayee pulled up party workers in Amethi for coining a slogan “Pope Raj, Rome Raj , nahin chalega, nahin chalega’  against Mrs Sonia Gandhi who was then contesting her first election from Amethi

In Lucknow, former minister Lalji Tandon was Mr Vajpayee’s representative as well as his closest associate.“He was all that a perfect politician should be. As a human being, he has inspired the nation. I cannot say anything more at this point of time”, said an emotionally distraught leader.

Pradeep Bhargava, a party leader who drove Mr Vajpayee around in his personal car before the latter became Prime Minister, recalled that the leader always ate ‘mishri’ (crystallized sugar) before addressing a meeting.

“Atal ji called me his ‘saarthi’ (driver) and was always sensitive towards the common man. He would ask me to stop the car if he saw a group of people waiting to meet him. He would wait in the queue to cast his vote and never flaunted his VIP status”, he said.

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