Vajpayee Myth And Reality

Of course it is quite rude to speak ill of the dead. But it is equally bad to stay idle and watch a man being turned into myth—undeservingly.


Take the case oif Atal Behari Vajpayee, The minute he died at the age of 93 yesterday, the myth builders took over showering encomiums in the late former prime minister.. I watched news channel after news channel but none tried to separate grains from chaff.


True 0the man was a great orator but let us come to that later. He has also been hailed as a great poet , I cannot comment on that as I have not read any of his verses. But what gets my goat is the media’s failure to look at him with a critical eye.


True you may say this is not the tim when his body is yet to be cremated but in that case pleas at least show some restraint in your praises at least.


He has been described as “liberal” “ Tolernt” and an inclusivist prime minister who took everybody along.. The present incumbent has been compared unfavourably with him. But is there much difference between Modi, and Vajpayee ideologically? The difference is nly in the circumstances.


Vajpayee as the prime minister had the unenviable task of leading a 24 party coalition managing volatile leaders like Mamata Bannerjee and Jayalalitha. While hs beliefs were no different from that of his fellow RSS colleague Modi, he was frced by political compulsions to be liberal and inclusivist.


Most of the parties except BJHP, Shiv Sena and perhaps Akali Dal, prided themselves on being secular and many enjoyed the support of minority communities and would not allow anything that would alienate their vote banks. They formed a sort of security ring that prevented the implementation of RSS’ divisive anti-minority policiesBut it did not mean that attempts were not made


Take my daughters’ schoolbooks that were rewritten during Vjpayee period. Her science book for instance, declared that atoms were discovered by Vedic Indians, by a sage called Kanad. Similar rubbish was also found in the social sciences book. (I still preserve the two books).


The Gujarat riots took place during Vjpayee’s tenure. And his reaction was “The state government must follow Rajdharma”. Tjos has been flaunted as an advice to the then Gujart CM, Narendra Mo.di to get his act together and Vajpayee has been much praised for it . But unfortunately the full statement has been ignored. After explaining “Rajdharma” meant treating all citizens equally regardless of caste and creed Vajpayee added: I am sure Narendrabhai is following the Rajdharma”.


To make such a statement he must have been deaf nd blind. Ignorant of the horrific violence during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat with the state watching it either as a mute spectator or tacitly aiding the saffron rioters.


The first time I heard of Vajpayee was when I ws in school when there wer3 massive protests by the then Jan Sangh party against cow slaughter. Vajpayee made brilliant speeches that instead of calming the protestors indflamed them and they ran riot leading to some .leaders were rightly arrested and locked up.


That is what his oratory did. It was powerful but was it used for good? No. Even Josef Goebbels oratory was powerful but no one created a myth around Hitler’s propaganda minister.


During the Ram Janam Bhoomi agitation Vajpoayee made many rousing speeches in support of demolishing babri Masjid and building a Ram Temple there. When the Babri Masjid was demolished he changed tack and said it was unfortunate blaming it on a section of Kar Sevakdss (Volunteers) who went out of control. “Who was he fooling.? Senior leaders oif his party were egging on the volunteers yelling “Ek Dhakka aur do” (Give one more push) to demolish the mosque.


The nuclear test at Pokhran is hailed as a Vajpayee achievement. But neither Indira Gandhi’s Pokhran I nor Vajpayee’s Pokhran II brought in any tangible benefits. The most absurd thing in the world is becoming a nuclear power being saddled with weapons you can’t use.


If you weigh the pluses and minuses there are more minuses as far as Atal Behari Vjpayee i9s concerned. Sorry Atal fans.