New Delhi, Nation Now

Atal Bihari Vajpayee once said during his speech in the parliament that “I want to leave politics but politics doesn’t leave me”. Well, it’s somewhat true because he was seen as a reluctant politician in the corridors of power. A poet at heart, he believed that poetry and politics cannot go together because in politics one has to give speech every day to influence the public.

His RSS influence began at a very young age as his schooling was done in RSS run saraswati shishu mandir in Gwalior. He formally joined RSS in 1939 as a volunteer under the influence of Babasahab Apte and he became a full time pracharak in 1947.  In 1951, Bhartiya Jan Sangh was born and Vaypayee along with Deed Dayal Upadhyay were chosen to run the hindu right wing political party. He contested Lok Sabha election in 1957 general elections where he lost from Mathura but won from Balrampur. In Lok Sabha everyone was impressed with Vaypayee’s oratorical skills including Pandit Nehru who predicted that Vaypayee would become prime minister one day.

Vaypayee will always be seen as a torch bearer of non-congress political forces. Non congress political parties came together to form Janata Party in 1977 and won the general elections. Morarji Desai became prime minister and Vaypayee was made the external affairs minister.

In 1980, BJP was formed and Vajpayee became its first president. He was probably the first RSS man to shift BJP’s political ideology towards Gandhian Socialism. Along with LK Advani, he was the architect of Ram Janmabhoomi movement which generated considerable ground support and BJP won 86 seats in 1989 lok sabha elections.

He became prime minister thrice during 1996-2004 but completed full term only once. Prime minister’s post did not change him as a person, he still remained a poet first and politician second. He was find of whiskey and meat unlike brahmins in our country and he remained passive from 2009 until his death. On August 16, 2018, Vajpayee breathed his last at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. PM Narendra Modi appeared on Nation Television (DD) to announce the tragic news which was seen as a symbol of his deep attachment to Vaypayee.

Two years after his death, we have not seen highly critical editorials written about him which means he either stayed away from controversies or he managed them well. RSS should always be thankful to Atal Bihari Vaypayee for giving RSS, political space in India.