So many to see a poll loser, Atal told Mumbai

  • | Thursday | 16th August, 2018

Vajpayee was at his best, they said, at a meeting held at Shivaji Park on December 24, 1984 to felicitate him on his 60th birthday. He thus widened BJP’s social base,” said Bhatkhalkar.For years, Vajpayee, when in Mumbai, stayed with Vedprakash Goyal at the latter’s Sion apartment. MUMBAI: BJP functionaries reminisced on AB Vajpayee’s close links with Mumbai since his stint as Jan Sangh leader.“Atalji made many key speeches in Mumbai,” recalled Atul Bhatkhalkar, BJP MLA from Kandivli. More rounds of applause, and he added wryly: “Where were you all on the day of voting?”Eleven years later, L K Advani publicly declared, at a BJP conclave at Shivaji Park, Vajpayee as BJP’s prime ministerial nominee. “Atalji’s speech as PM at Worli’s Jamboree maidan to mark Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth centenary was thought-provoking.

MUMBAI: BJP functionaries reminisced on AB Vajpayee’s close links with Mumbai since his stint as Jan Sangh leader.“Atalji made many key speeches in Mumbai,” recalled Atul Bhatkhalkar, BJP MLA from Kandivli. “Atalji’s speech as PM at Worli’s Jamboree maidan to mark Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth centenary was thought-provoking. He emphasised the need for social empowerment of Dalits and other weaker sections. He thus widened BJP’s social base,” said Bhatkhalkar.For years, Vajpayee, when in Mumbai, stayed with Vedprakash Goyal at the latter’s Sion apartment. Old-timers remembered how a twentysomething Piyush, Vedprakash’s son and now Union minister, would be at Vajpayee’s beck and call, streamlining press interviews and keeping a check on visitors. Vajpayee was at his best, they said, at a meeting held at Shivaji Park on December 24, 1984 to felicitate him on his 60th birthday. Not only had he lost the 1984 election, BJP could annex only two seats in Lok Sabha, thanks to a pro-Congress wave in the wake of the Indira assassination. Vajpayee stood up to address the meeting amid thunderous applause, paused for 10 seconds, took a close, hard look at the nearly choc-a-bloc Park and said, ‘Haara huwa Atal Bihari kaisa dikhta hai yeh dekhne ke liye itnee bheed’ (People have come in heavy numbers to see how a defeated Atal Bihari looks). More rounds of applause, and he added wryly: “Where were you all on the day of voting?”Eleven years later, L K Advani publicly declared, at a BJP conclave at Shivaji Park, Vajpayee as BJP’s prime ministerial nominee. A few months later, Vajpayee was sworn in as PM, although for 13 days. Also, it was at a Shivaji Park conclave in 2009 that Vajpayee said he wished to hang up his sandals, and that Advani would lead the party, said state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari.Describing Vajpayee’s sense of humour as “delicious,” Ravindra Sathe of the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, an RSS think tank, recalled a meeting with Vajpayee in connection with a compilation of his nonpolitical speeches, poems and essays.“A band of Prabodhini functionaries called on him in New Delhi in 2004. We showed him a copy of the book titled Raaj-Neeti Se Parey (Beyond Politics) which Prabodhini had published. He took a look at the cover and remarked, ‘Achcha, so you have already sent me off beyond politics’,” said Sathe.Mukund Kulkarni, office secretary of the state BJP headquarters, spoke of Vajpayee’s two visits to the party office in the 1990s. “On both occasions Atalji spent two hours at the office, interacted with us and allowed party workers to take pictures with him. Asked if he’d have tea, he insisted on ‘garam, garam chai’,” said Kulkarni.On a visit to the Prabodhini’s headquarters at Uttan in Bhayandar in 2003, Vajpayee planted amango sapling. A few years later, the Prabodhini sent him a hamper of mangoes. He called back to say: ‘Aam bahut ruchipurna hain (Mangoes are yummy),’ said Sathe. Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray described the late BJP leader as “Bhishma Pita Maha after Balasaheb Thackeray.” Uddhav left for New Delhi in the evening to attend the late PM’s funeral on Friday. He is accompanied by his wife and sons, sources said.

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