Vajpayee – a great orator who lost his voice

Vajpayee – a great orator who lost his voice

After I saw a news story on the Facebook that Atal Behari Vajpayee has got the Bharat Ratna award, my memories immediately went back to 1980s when I first time saw him at a function at Parade Ground in Jammu. At that time, I was a school student. I remember he was weighed in coins, a common practice to honour political leaders during those days.

Someone told me at Parade ground that he was the first person to deliver speech in Hindi at the UN.

I also saw him delivering his famous speech in Lok Sabha where he said he was going to meet the President to hand over his resignation. Though he was a great orator, it was a sheer irony that Vajpayee remained speechless for many years.

But I personally met him for the first time in the month of March, 2002 when he was the Prime Minister. One fine evening, we were told that Vajpayee would be holidaying at the lake city of Nainital and make some important announcements. So, we went to Nainital. I was accompanied by my wife Deepti.

We went straight to the Raj Bhavan, a great British era majestic building. After waiting for some time, Vajpayee came to the room where the press conference was to be held. He announced an industrial package comprising huge tax incentives for Himachal and Uttarakhand for 10 years in order to attract the industry to the hilly areas of the two states. In this PC only, Vajpayee also sang his new poem “geet nahin gata hoon.”

After addressing the PC, Vajpayee left the room.

I began talking to A K Tandon, who was the media adviser to Vajpayee. I knew Tandon because he had been the bureau chief of PTI. I asked Tandon whether he could arrange a separate meeting with Vajpayee. I had heard a lot about Vajpayee from my father. Tandon smiled and avoided a direct answer suggesting some other time.

But to my surprise, Vajpayee came back to the same room where we were having tea. He too took a cup of tea. I was standing very close to Vajpayee. I mustered some courage and said “Pradhan Mantri ji namaskar.” Vajpayee looked askance. I said “main Prashant ji ka beta hoon” (I am son of Prashant). Vajpayee put a hand on his ears and came close to me suggesting he has not clearly heard what I said. I repeated my sentence, this time louder. “Main Prashant ji Ka beta hoon.” Vajpayee looked at me and put one hand on my shoulder and said “Jammu wale Prashant ji jo Rajya Sabha ke sadasya thei (You are talking about Prashant of Jammu who was also the member of Rajya Sabha). I replied in affirmative. As soon as Vajpayee saw my nod, he took me in deep embrace. “Prashant ji mere bahut dost hain. Woh kaise hain (Prashant is a very dear friend of me and how is he),” he asked. Then we had small chitchat as Tandon watched us keenly. I also introduced Deepti to Vajpaye saying she is also working with PTI. Vajpayee was very happy. “Are apka to pura parivar media main hai. Mera Prashant ji ko namaskar kahiye ga. And thus the conversation ended.

And when I went to Jammu and narrated the incident to my father. My father said “yes, we used to sit together in the central hall quiet often because Vajpayee was also a member of the Rajya Sabha at that time after being defeated in the 1984 election. Moreover he knew me since prajaparishad agitation.” I asked my father since you knew Vajpayee so well then why didn’t you go and talk to him. My father did not show any enthusiasm and went to his room to read some book after giving me a smile.

— Shishir Prashant (courtesy Facebook)