Daily Times

Poetry, journalism and politics. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was proficient in each. Yet he chose the latter as his most enduring career. It was one that would go on for more than half a century. And with news of his passing away this week, at the grand old age of 93, his loss will be strongly felt not just by his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but the whole of India. And Pakistan, too.

It was perhaps the start of his second stint as Prime Minister that was the most audacious. For in 1988, just two months after returning to the hot seat, Vajpayee oversaw the Pokhran II nuclear tests. The move was not as risky or as miscalculated as it appeared. Its message was to inform the international community that India had arrived and was ready to be treated as an equal partner. Riding the storm of American sanctions proved to be worth the squeeze. For a mere two years later saw Bill Clinton pay a state visit to New Delhi; the first US president to do so in 20 years. Fast-forward to today and the country represents Washington’s most strategic partnership for the 20th century.

Admittedly, the tests precipitated an inevitable Indo-Pak arms race. Yet this was not viewed by Vajpayee as insufficient reason not to hop aboard the then newly inaugurated Delhi-Lahore bus to travel to this side of the border to talk peace. Indeed, he was the first Indian leader to commit to Pakistan’s sovereignty. And it was this ability to act in his own country’s national interest while reassuring others of good neighbourliness that makes him sorely missed on this side of the border.

For Vajpayee, renowned orator, enjoyed to talk; to build personal relationships with those whom he had to sit down and break bread. There was no eating in silence for him. There were only olive branches. Time and again. This, too, underscored that the thrice-elected PM had a sense of his own statesmanship. A recognition of how it was incumbent upon India, being the larger nation in possession of a far stronger army, in terms of sheer numbers, to make overtures to a smaller and defensive neighbour. This is not to say that it was always smooth sailing. But there was always dialogue. After Kargil came Agra; and after Agra came the Composite Dialogue. All of which often put him at odds with more hardline elements within the BJP. Prompting his supporters to describe him as being “the right man in the wrong party”. By contrast, the New Delhi government of the day is presently pursuing a reckless policy of confrontation and isolation with Pakistan.

So, yes, this country mourns the loss of one of the greats of contemporary Indian political history. A man who had pretty much seen it all: from the Quit India movement against British colonial rule and in which he himself was involved as a young 16-year-old; to serving Parliament while Jawaharlal Nehru still held the premiership. The one thing that, however, that Vajpayee did not witness in his lifetime was lasting Indo-Pak peace. Sadly.

It is therefore for hoped that both sides pay tribute to Atal Ji and agree to move the bilateral relationship forward. For there can be no better way to pay tribute to a man without whom neither nation shines as brightly as it should.  *

Published in Daily Times, August 18^th 2018.