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Vajpayee’s oratory
skills combined
with subtle rhetoric

ister and a true Indian statesman. His earned him praises rani, jeevan ek anant kahani; par tann
leadership, foresight, maturity and elo- even from the ki apni seemayen; yadyapi sau shardo
quence put him in a league of his own. ki vani, itna kafi hai antim dastak par
Atalji, the Gentle Giant, will be missed opposition members khud darwaza kholen’ (The Earth is mil-
by one and all.” when he spoke in lions of years old, life an eternal story;
Vajpayee was a charismatic states- but body has limits; though voices of
man who navigated the field of poli- Parliament and was hundred winters, it is enough that one
tics with finesse, but perhaps what must open the door on the last knock).
endeared him more to his fellow politi- liked by public too He had also remarked once in his
cians and the common man alike was speech that ‘Manushya sau sal jiye ye
his poetic side that often manifested laced with poetries drew thunderous ashirvad hai, lekjin tann ki seema hai’
in his fiery speeches. His oratory skills applause from the crowd. (Man may live for hundred years is a
combined with subtle rhetoric earned Vajpayee had in fact underlined blessing, but, body has its limits).
him praises even from the members of the frailty of human body in his poem Born in Gwalior in 1924, Vajpayee
the opposition when he spoke in Parlia- ‘Apne hin man se kuch bolen’. One of its was fluent in English. However, his ora-
ment and his public addresses liberally stanzas read — ‘Prithvi lakho varsh pu- tory and eloquence came in full force

Working class, journalists to contest due to poor resources.
He showered his magnanimity and
will miss Vajpayee more spoke to his Solicitor General Har-
ish Salve and Additional Solicitor
General R.N.Trivedi to stand for us
before the court. Later he requested
Former PM was easily accessible to everybody and his closest Fali Nariman to appear for the em-
aide Shiv Kumar and former minister Lalji Tandon proved ployees without charging any fees.
to be his troubleshooters for addressing civic grievances of His personal staff including Shiv
Kumar Mishra and R.P.Singh, IAS
people of his constituency, writes mudit mathur knew his sympathies for Lucknow
journalists.
Former prime minister Atal management and were sitting on a I remember one of his press con-
Bihari Vajpayee was a great states- round the clock Dharna outside its ferences in Raj Bhawan where he
man and a true democrat who office. Some of the journalist friends broke all the security protocols and
always had a heart for working informed Atalji about this and he closely sat among us. He talked very
classes and even stood with jour- was so hurt that he could not resist intimately with journalists. Unlike
nalists in their struggle against their himself to join us on Dharna. He sat todays arrogance in political lead-
mighty and powerful management. with us couple of hours to protest ers he used to be very humble and
He was a man of great convictions the decision and promised all his polite and very witty. We were just
and always lived to his ideals. He support to the struggling journalist stunned when a just fresher lady
was member of parliament from and employees. He tried to per- journalist shot a question at him to
Lucknow and the management of suade the top management of that tell, “Are you a bachelor or a virgin?”
Times group closed down part of its time but could not succeed due to He frankly and smilingly replied,
establishment of Hindi daily ‘Navb- their adamancy to crush the move- “Though I am unmarried but not a
harat Times’ (Lucknow Edition) ment. Later the battle converted virgin.” He was a totally transparent
without any prior permission of the into lengthy litigation. and clean hearted person un-
state government in June 1993. It Atalji never forgot the plight of like many hypocrite politicos and
rendered 92 newspaper employees struggling journalists and used to openly acknowledged his live-in
including 49 journalist jobless be- help some of us at personal level. relationship.
cause Times group refused to bear When he became prime minister Vajpayee worked as a journalist
expenditure as per recommenda- the employees won their case in the for varies publications including
tions of the wage board. high court and management went Rashtradharma (a Hindi monthly),
The employees were demon- to Supreme Court. Our leader met headed by Deendayal Upadhyaya,
strating against the decision of the him in Delhi and expressed inability Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly and

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