I first met Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a young student in Delhi University. My friend, the late Ashok Saikia, who later served in the PMO, was a family friend of Vajpayee. He introduced me to the young, debonair and fast-rising star in Jana Sangh: Vajpayee, a poet and a statesman.

During those days, it was possible to spot Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani catching an evening movie at Connaught Place.

It was his leadership qualities that reverberated amongst us college students during the dark days of the Emergency. It was ironic that curtailing and quashing of civil liberties was celebrated in many circles, including at Delhi University. When politics had sunk to a new low, it was Vajpayee and many like him who stood tall, encouraging students to defend our democratic ideals.

My next encounter with Vajpayee was in 1978, when I was a young Foreign Service officer in Tokyo, and he on a visit as minister of external affairs.

A year before, speaking at the UN General Assembly in September 1977, Vajpayee had delivered a memorable speech, parts of which still resonate: “Our success and failure should be measured by one metric alone: whether we are able to achieve justice and prosperity for humankind — for each man, woman and child.”

He was a firm believer in and supporter of the multilateral system anchored in the UN and famously said: “There was an implicit conviction that the UN would be stronger than the sum of its constituent member-states.” Yet he was realistic: “In the euphoria after the Cold War, there was a misplaced notion that the UN could solve every problem anywhere.”

His wit and charm captured the imagination of a young, aspirational India, looking to the new millennium for peace and prosperity. On the domestic front, he chose to anchor BJP’s ethos in Gandhian ideals, stating: “For the Bharatiya Janata Party, Gandhian socialism is what we want to achieve and make society free of exploitation and full of opportunities.”

I had the privilege of serving in the external affairs ministry and as deputy high commissioner in London when he was Prime Minister. He laid the foundation of our nuclear arsenal. A few PMs before Vajpayee had made similar attempts, but it was only under Vajpayee’s leadership that we were able to keep our cards close to our chest, not letting out a whisper. A man known for oratory had earn ed the trust of a select few scientists and government officers, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Even as he made India go nuclear, his statesmanship ensured India and Pakistan enjoyed perhaps their best relations since the two nations became independent. The sight of an Indian prime minister embarking on a bus yatra from Delhi to Lahore will remain etched in our memories. His charisma and poetry had an instant impact on both sides of the border — families separated during Partition were in tears at his warmth.

On the domestic economy front, Vajpayee’s achievements have stood the test of time. He ushered in India’s telecom revolution; disinvested public sector companies; envisioned the Golden Quadrilateral to connect India’s largest metropolises; and rationalised taxation in the country, which unleashed the animal spirit of India’s entrepreneurs. In a sense, Vajpayee laid the foundation for ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ of the Modi-led government. It was to recognise this that the current NDA government termed December 25, the birth anniversary of Vajpayee, Good Governance Day .

Political observers have used various terms to describe Vajpayee: ‘statesman’ is perhaps the most commonly used to describe him. But for members of the Bhartiya Janata Party, he was more — a father figure whose ideals we seek to follow. Each of us, in our own way, is attempting to build on his vision of India — a nation with a deep civilizational past, and a young, modern republic, rooted in constitutional democracy. Vajpayee for us will remain the guiding light in these efforts and we in turn will seek to make him proud of our achievements.

The writer is MoS, housing and urban affairs

