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Regular-article-logo Saturday, 31 May 2025

Rare politician atal about ethics

Ethics was his middle name, remembered Jharkhand's first chief minister Babulal Marandi when talking about "beloved leader" Atal Bihari Vajpayee who passed away on Thursday in Delhi.

Our Correspondent Published 17.08.18, 12:00 AM
State Haj committee executive officer Parvej Ibrahim (in white shirt), along with fellow members, prays for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Ranchi on Thursday afternoon. Vajpayee died hours later at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. He was 93. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi: Ethics was his middle name, remembered Jharkhand's first chief minister Babulal Marandi when talking about "beloved leader" Atal Bihari Vajpayee who passed away on Thursday in Delhi.

Marandi, who parted ways with BJP in the mid-2000s to form his own party, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, had been a minister in the Vajpayee government in 1999 that lost the vote of confidence by one vote and had been privy to much of the drama in those tumultuous times.

"Days before the motion, Uma Bharti called me to speak to L.K. Advani ji and Vajpayeeji on getting support of some of Bihar MPs. I knew well Vajpayee ji and Advaniji would reject any such proposal, yet I called on them. As expected, both declined. Vajpayeeji categorically said he would not do anything unethical to save his government," remembered Marandi, implying Vajpayee rejected horse-trading outright even if it meant stepping down as Prime Minister.

"Vajpayee ji maintained probity in politics," Marandi, whose own party is now reduced to two MLAs after six JVM MLAs switched over to the BJP.

In Khunti, octogenarian MP Karia Munda, perhaps Jharkhand's tallest BJP leader today, is grieving the death of the man who gave him his first poll ticket almost 50 years ago.

Vajpayee had proposed Munda's name for the bypoll when Khunti parliamentary seat suddenly fell vacant in 1970 owing to sitting Congress MP Jaipal Singh Munda's death.

"My name was proposed as the Jan Sangh (BJP was founded in 1980) candidate and I was called to Delhi," recalled the tribal stalwart. "Many doubted me, said I had no experience. Vajpayee ji patted my back and told others that the man in front of you (Karia Munda) is hardworking and honest. Experience alone doesn't matter in politics, Vajpayeeji had said," remembered Munda. "He gave his own example and others were speechless," said Munda, referring to how a young Vajpayee shouldered Jan Sangh as national president after the demise of Deendayal Upadhyay in 1968.

Munda lost his first election, but gained in confidence to contest again and won many times, rising to become a cabinet minister and Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha.

FOND MEMORIES: Vajpayee (in picture, top), who had stopped over in Ranchi on way to Purulia in Bengal on January 7, 1996, is being served by a young boy during a dinner at the residence of RSS leader Sitaram Maroo. Raghubar Das (in picture, above) with the former Prime Minister at his residence in Delhi in August 2008. Pictures courtesy Ajay Maroo

He also recalled Vajpayee's role in the formation of Jharkhand. "We had lost all hope for a separate state. One day, we came to know that the draft bill for formation of Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand has been finalised but there is no talk about Jharkhand. We rushed to Delhi and requested Vajpayeeji to fulfil our demand. He smiled, asked us to get ready with sweets," said Munda.

Vajpayee's personality was magnetic but he was at heart a simple man, Marandi added. "I remember in 1996 I had lost two general elections but organised a tribal conclave in Dumka and invited Vajpayeeji to it. "He flew to Dumka. My old car ran out of fuel midway with him sitting inside. I was nervous. But he was cool and even offered to walk. Such was his magnanimity," said Marandi.

State food and civil supplies minister Saryu Roy said he was an MSc student of physics in Patna Science College when he met Vajpayee in Delhi during a college trip in 1971. "We spotted Vajpayee ji at Janpath where he was buying shoes. We knew him as a great orator and introduced ourselves. This was our first meeting but he was so warm and jovial. He even invited us home. That evening, we met him again at a movie hall at Connaught Place," said Roy.

Much later, Roy said he requested Vajpayee, who was then Prime Minister, to install a statue of Jayaprakash Narayan on Parliament premises. "He did do so," said Roy.

Ajay Maroo, former Rajya Sabha MP and son of late RSS leader Sitaram Maroo who ran a prestigious vernacular, said Vajpayee during his Ranchi visits used to stay at their family residence in Upper Bazaar. "As a young journalist, I accompanied Prime Minister Vajpayee on four foreign trips. I saw how Americans clapped after his historic speech in Wessington," he said.

In Ranchi, Maroo said Vajpayee had inaugurated a set-up in his father's press where he made a speech about "spicy news killing the essence of journalism".

BJP's three-time Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda said what struck him about Vajpayee was his attentiveness. "I was a young CM, he was a world-renowned PM. But he listened to me," he said.

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