Remembering the contribution of great son of India late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
“The governments will come and go, the parties will be formed and collapsed, but this country must remain, its democracy must remain immortal.” This is the English translation of a few lines from one of the speeches that the late former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee delivered in the parliament in Hindi. As the nation mourns the passing away of an outstanding parliament, a great visionary, an impeccable orator, a statesman, a published poet, and above all a humanist, it’s time that we recall his some of the contributions as the Prime Minister of India, which propelled India to new heights.
When Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister of India for the first time in 1996, I was not even born. Neither do I have any memories of his full tenure as the Prime Minister of India form 1999 to 2004, as I was too young to understand the politics back then. So, the first time I heard of him was perhaps in 6th standard, when we were asked to memorise the names of all the former Prime Ministers of India since independence.
As my understanding of the Indian politics grew over the years, I remember once my father telling me about the kind of leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was. Out of many good things that my father told me about him, the one thing which stood out and got etched in my mind was: “Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of the few leaders to have ever born in India who was equally admired many leaders of the opposition parties while being in power due to his virtues and commitment to take the country forward.” And when I got to know more about him over the years through books, newspaper and internet, what my father had told me turned out to be true.
There are many people who live for themselves, there are some who live for their near and dear ones, but there are a few who live for the nation. They are motivated and inspired a vision and mission beyond the self, which transcends their personal interest. And without any doubt, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of them.
Under his tenure as the Prime Minister of India, India witnessed many schemes and policies whose fruits we still reap till date. Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, which was introduced in the year 2001, provided the universal access to free elementary education to children aged 6-14. As a result of which, as per a statement the Centre released in 2013, the school dropout has declined from 80 lakh in 2009 to 30 lakh in 2012 due to the success of the SSA.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act which aimed to bring down fiscal deficit boosted public sector savings. He is also credited to have brought the telecom revolution with the ‘New Telecom Policy’. The Swarn Chaturbhuj Yojana ( Golden Quadrilateral), which is the largest highway connecting road project in India, was initiated under his regime.
In order to boost the privatization in India, he formed a separate disinvestment industry. The most important disinvestments were Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) and Hindustan Zinc, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited and VSNL. His efforts to bring the peace between India and Pakistan are also commendable despite their failure. Every person across the borders still rejoice the kind of commitment he showed to improve India’s bilateral relations. And of course who can forget his journey to Lahore bus.
At a time when America was intimidating India with imposing sanctions if the latter carried out a nuclear test, India went on to do its second nuclear test in Pokhran in 1998 to shield itself against any nuclear threat from the neighbour China, which was also allegedly reported to have covertly helping Pakistan to build nuclear weapons. He later clarified that the nuclear test had been carried out for the sole purpose of deterrence and self-defence, and India would never use it against the non- nuclear countries.
Today, India faces a severe dearth of the leaders like him, who sacrificed his entire life for the service of this nation and its people. With the loss of a doyen of Indian politics, India has lost a great son of the soil.
Currently, I am pursuing B.A(H) Political science from Satyawati College, Delhi University.
I like public speaking, writing and reading in my leisure.
And here is some interesting thing.