Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away: A statesman of all times

When Manmohan Singh stepped into his office in the South Block on May 22, 2004, after taking over as the 'accidental' Prime Minister, his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee had kept a handwritten note on the table, pleading with him to continue with the four policy initiatives that the NDA had started in the larger interests of the country and the region. These included an agreement with the United States on Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP), initiatives with Pakistan, which Vajpayee had revived just few months before with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf during his Islamabad trip on January 6, 2004, building of the golden quadrilateral highway network and the inter-linking of rivers. While UPA government went slow on the inter-linking of rivers, Singh assiduously worked on the other initiatives. The NSSP fructified into the India-US civilian nuclear deal in 2008, ending technological apartheid for India. The January 6, 2004 Islamabad agreement led to the famed Singh-Musharraf formula on Jammu and Kashmir. Vajpayee allowed neither the 1999 Kargil war nor the 2001 attack on Parliament to block his pursuit for peace.

Vajpayee's initiatives to end India's diplomatic isolation, arising out of the 1998 nuclear tests were a stupendous success. On May 11 and 13, 1998, Vajpayee and his National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra had turned India's world upside down by conducting a set of five nuclear tests, stunning the world. Former MEA hand Rakesh Sood, who was engaged to undertake the post-nuclear test diplomacy, said two objectives were set for his team. "One, to declare that India was now a nuclear weapon state and accordingly modify the terms of engagement with other states. Two, to generate an acceptance of India as a responsible state with an impeccable non-proliferation record," he said. The nuclear tests were followed closely by a massive global outreach by India, starting with the US, leading to 14 rounds of talks between Vajpayee's special envoy Jaswant Singh and US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott. Former NSA Shivshankar Menon believes the tests "shook loose our relations with all major powers, US, China, even Pakistan. The world had got used to a certain kind of India. That was challenged, successfully."

After conveying India's strength, Vajpayee took the risk of reaching out to Pakistan suggesting an end to hostility by exploring creative solutions to problems afflicting bilateral relations. At that time, the public mood in both India and Pakistan was roiled by hyper-nationalistic feelings after the nuclear tests. The bus journey from Amritsar to Lahore was rife with symbolism. Vajpayee decided to take with him a delegation of writers, poets, painters, sportsmen, actors and musicians. Dev Anand, Satish Gujral, Kapil Dev, Javed Akhtar, Shatrughan Sinha and Mallika Sarabhai travelled on the bus together with the officials and political figures. A large media contingent flew to Lahore and then by bus to Wagah. He visited Minar-e-Pakistan and declared that a stable and prosperous Pakistan was entirely in India's interest. The significance of a BJP prime minister making that statement was not lost on anybody in Pakistan. And at the Lahore summit with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, he had set up a back-channel to explore solutions to the most contentious issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Former Pakistani foreign secretary and high commissioner to India, Niaz Naik, who was nominated by Sharif as his back-channel contact said both countries would have reached an agreement in September or October 1999 if Kargil had not happened. The two leaders (Vajpayee and Sharif) had agreed on three points: first, the status quo was inadequate and the Kashmir issue must be resolved; second, both sides must try to solve the problem by the end of the century (i.e. by 2000); and third, given the publicity glare of the press, especially considering the emotive nature of the Kashmir dispute, any preliminary negotiation must operate discreetly through quiet back-channel diplomacy.

The euphoria of the bus ride evaporated within days of Kargil happening. The Lahore Bus Yatra came to be described as 'Bus to Nowhere'. It had one lasting human impact though. It opened the bus route for ordinary people to go across the border. Two years later, in July 2001, he invited Pakistan president Pervez Musharaf to Agra. The peace process collapsed and no signatures were obtained for the Agra Treaty. Just a few months later in December 2001, Parliament was attacked and Operation Parakram led to massive deployment of forces along borders. Again in April 2003, even without consulting his cabinet colleagues, at a rally in Srinagar, he made yet another unilateral peace offer, to his own Kashmiris as well as those in Pakistan, and it yielded the Islamabad Declaration after a summit with Musharraf in January 2004. While Musharaf committed to turn the tap of terrorism off, removing camps and ending infiltration, Vajpayee agreed to pick up the threads from Lahore, but that was aborted by the Kargil war.

Soon, he lost office in May 2004. His biggest regret remained that he could not take the peace process he had initiated with such enthusiasm to its logical conclusion of ending India-Pakistan hostility for all time.

HIS BIGGEST REGRET

• Vajpayee’s biggest regret remained that he could not take the peace process he had initiated with such enthusiasm to its logical conclusion of ending India-Pak hostility.
   
• Vajpayee wanted to pick up the peace threads from Lahore, but that had to be aborted with the Kargil war.

TOP HIGHLIGHTS

• I would like that no citizen of the state feels alone and helpless. The entire nation is with them.
   
• I have a vision of India: an India free of hunger and fear, an India free of illiteracy and want.
   
• Terrorism has become a festering wound. It is an enemy of humanity.
   
• You can change friends but not neighbours. 
  (Aap mitra badal sakte hain, padosi nai)

Atal ji, the Gentle Giant, will be missed by one and all. His leadership, foresight, maturity and elo-quence put him in a league of his own
Ram Nath Kovind, President

The country will be poorer in the loss of Vajpayee who was like a colossus for 6 decades... My deepest regards for this great son of India 
Pranab Mukherjee, Former President

Atal ji was like a star in the sky of politics...shone brighter than everyone else. He had the unique ability to bring everyone together. 
Sumitra Mahajan, Lok Sabha Speaker

POLITICIANS ACROSS PARTIES VISIT VAJPAYEE: There was no end to the continuous stream of politicians cutting across political lines that poured in at AIIMS to have the last glimpse of Vajpayee on Thursday. PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah were the first to visit AIIMS, followed by Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.