A man who had strengthened the voice of opposition for many years. From Jawaharlal Nehru to PV Narsimha Rao he was the only constant voice in the parliament. He remained as the most powerful voice throughout his incumbency as a parliamentarian. He was not the one who used to criticize the government on each and every policy. He had never performed like a so called "Opposition Leader". Unlike existing leaders, He always targeted the policies and plans not the leaders of the other side. His words had always been remarkable and noticeable in the assembly. Even his opponents used to congratulate him on his magnificent speeches. He was the man of words but his personality was not just confined to the words only. He used to act accordingly. He had witnessed the charisma of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the audacity of Lal Bahadur Shastri & the courage of Mrs. Gandhi. These observations must had put an impact on his personality. The image of Mr. Vajpayee was incredibly huge. He was one of the finest speaker ever. Moreover, He possessed the extraordinary sense of statesmanship.
"Vajpayee is the right man on the wrong side" - This accusation followed him throughout his career. He had an image of a secular leader. Paradoxically, BJP never succeeded to maintain a cover of secularism. Communal-shaded BJP contested elections under the supervision of Mr. Vajpayee. This two shaded side failed to attain the score of majority. Nevertheless, It ended up as the largest side. "The aura of Vajpayee benefited BJP for making it the largest side" or "The image of BJP failed to give Mr. Vajpayee a strong PM chair to perform". I don't find myself able to recognize the more appropriate phrase out of these two.
These days ruling party tends to focus its attention on the soft-communal issues like sawarna movement, gau-raksha, ram-mandir etc. Whereas, Mr. Vajpayee once witnessed one of the most tragic communal incident in the history of Indian democracy, demolition of Babri-Masjid. He remained silent on that incident & BJP celebrated it with hustle and bustle. Certainly, he believed in secularism. He always kept himself aside from caste and religion based politics. One of his most famous quote "If it's not secular, it's not India." proves his secular disposition. Despite of fundamental differences with party. He maintained his dignified and respected position in the party. Mr. Vajpayee had taken the oath thrice as the Prime Minister of India. On just one time, he had successfully proved majority in the assembly & formed a government for a full-fledged tenure.
In the decade of 90s, India was going through a tough and unsettled political situation. India had several number of existing challenges at that point of time. Economy of India was getting the shape by that time. India had a challenge to settle itself in the global market. India wanted to become a strong player to influence global market. Pakistan has always performed as a major problem for Indian government. Even internally, India was suffering with a lot of issues. Mr. Vajpayee took those problems as challenges and tried rigorously to overcome those.
Under Vajpayee rule India redefined its nuclear strength. Pakistan had massive support from the US and China in spite of that India won the Kargil-War against Pakistan. In the post cold-war world Vajpayee boosted trade and bilateral relations with the United States. In 2000, Bill Clinton became the first American President to visit India since Jimmy Carter's visit in 1978. Vajpayee also championed a diplomatic solution to the land disputes between India and China. He tried to establish a better relation with Pakistan in a comprehensive manner. He inaugurated Delhi-Lahore bus service by travelling in the same to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan. This incident became an iconic symbol of international diplomacy and Vajpayee was lauded globally for his pragmatism. Vajpayee began the Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyaan or Education for all movement to provide universal elementary education. He passed Chandrayaan-I project which enabled India to reach the moon in 2008.
In a very short time span, Vajpayee achieved immense success as Prime Minister and that too in a coalition government. His reflection of mind in politics. His generous tendency for the people. Reflection of his poetic nature in his speeches and answers. These were the qualities of him. Which made him favorite of all. He never indulged himself in a traditional way of politics. His enormous persona was above the line of party-politics. Certainly, We can tag him as one of the finest Prime Minister till date.
Penned By - Abhishek Mishra
Meritorious !!
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