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Special on the Birth Centenary Year of Atalji
Former Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a freedom fighter, brilliant orator, poet, writer, journalist, politician and a man of many rare talents. Atalji was a charismatic, visionary, great leader, and Ajatashatru. Everybody was impressed with him because of his friendly nature. His contributions for the BJP were immeasurable. He was not only the founder of the BJP but also transformed and strengthened the party from a marginal political unit to a very formidable force in Indian politics. He was the architect of coalition politics and led the Bharatiya Janata Party to power three times. Under his visionary leadership, the country, during a critical juncture of our history, has seen good governance and all-round development in almost all sectors of the society. Atalji’s vision for India was very grand and commitment to ‘Maa Bharati’ was unmatchable and rare.
A native of Bateshwar
The Bateshwar Dham, adjacent to Agra in Uttar Pradesh, adorned with a series of Shiva temples, is the ancestral village of our former Prime Minister Atalji. Bateshwar Dham, which is an important spiritual, cultural and religious centre, is one of the most famous places in India. This place is also known as Bhuteshwar. The Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha includes Bateshwar, and I am extremely proud to have been given the chance to serve as an MP from this region for the second time in a row.
I am previlaged that on 22 July 2024, I had requested in the Lok Sabha under rule 377 to build a huge statue of Atalji at his birthplace Bateshwar, which has been approved by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and now, the Modi government is establishing a 65-foot-tall statue of Atalji in Bateshwar. Even before this, the Modi government approved a special project worth Rs. 74 crore to develop Bateshwar as a world-class tourist destination and for that, I express my special gratitude to Shri Narendra Modiji.
For almost six decades, Atalji was actively involved in politics. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha twice and the Lok Sabha nine times. He was also the founding President of the BJP, which was formed in 1980. On October 13, 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the National Democratic Alliance to power and became the Prime Minister of India for the third time and completed his tenure successfully. Earlier, he had served as the Prime Minister twice, for 13 days in 1996 and for 13 months in 1998. Apart from this, as Foreign Minister, Chairman of various important Standing Committees of Parliament, and as Leader of the Opposition, he played an active and pivotal role in shaping India’s domestic and foreign policies in the post-independence era.
Atalji understood the pain of farmers and rural India better than anybody other
Atal Bihari Vajpayee understood the pain of the farmers better than anybody other. When he became the Prime Minister of the country, he made a series of historic decisions for the upliftment of rural India and poor farmers. Atalji provided the facility of ‘Kisan Credit Card’ to free the farmers from the clutches of money lenders. For his initiatives, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat was increased by about 20 percent. Atalji also freed the sugar mills from the licensing system and introduced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme. In order to provide farmers with enough water for irrigation, he developed a plan to connect rivers. He tirelessly worked for road connectivity so that farmers’ produce must reach other states with ease. Not only this, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was addressing the country from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15 August 2003, he was the first person to talk about doubling the income of farmers.
Historic decisions for villages and the poor
During Vajpayeeji’s tenure, a campaign was started to provide free education to children between the ages of 6 to 14, which was implemented in the year 2000-01 as the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’. Under this scheme, children who had to leave their studies due to lack of money were benefited and it was promoted under the theme ‘School Chale Hum’. In this way, the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ or literacy for all got a boost.
Apart from all this, Atalji had planned to connect India through roads, under which he implemented the Golden Quadrilateral Road project to connect Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai and Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Also, his decision of ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana’ promoted the rural connectivity and economic development of the country, which can be considered as the most important work in the post-independent India yet.
‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana’
Atal Bihari Vajpayee considered the lack of connectivity in rural areas as the biggest impediment for the development of our villages. During his tenure, the ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana’ was commenced in December 2000. The historic initiative of concrete or paved roads of ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana’ connecting the villages and village roads to major roads of the block and district has completely changed the picture of the villages. This revolutionary decision for rural areas, which have around 70 percent of the population of the country, changed the fate of rural India. Currently, more than 90 percent of the villages in the country have been connected with roads through the Gramin Sadak Yojana. Direct connectivity with cities has changed the lives of people living in villages. The path of taking agricultural produce to markets and earning livelihoods became easier. With the construction of paved roads, basic needs like education and health are easily available to the people in villages.
‘Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana’-Complete development of villages
Atal Bihari Vajpayee always tried to improve the standard of life of people living in villages. For this, his government started the Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana in 2000-2001. Through this, the target was set to provide education, better roads, clean drinking water, basic health services and nutrition to the people living in the villages. Later, the target of providing electricity was also added in the scheme. The main objective of this scheme was to improve the lives of common people by eliminating poverty in rural areas.
‘Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana’
On September 25, 2001, Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced the ‘Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana’ with the goal of empowering the impoverished people of rural India economically. The primary aim of the scheme was to provide supplementary wage and employment to rural laborers, thereby ensuring food security and improving nutritional levels in rural areas by creating durable community assets and developing rural infrastructure through manual and unskilled labor-intensive works like the construction of village roads, irrigation canals, and other essential facilities; essentially offering employment opportunities to the rural poor in need of work. Additionally, a 10,000-crore yearly budget was allocated for this.
‘Antyodaya Anna Yojana’- World’s largest food security scheme
The ‘Antyodaya Anna Yojana’ was the biggest scheme launched by the Vajpayee government for the poor of the country. This scheme was launched on 25 December 2000. Under this scheme, arrangements were made to provide wheat and rice at subsidized rates to the poorest of the poor. Under this scheme, wheat was provided to 1 crore families at the rate of Rs 2 per kg and rice at the rate of Rs 3 per kg. After this, this scheme was expanded in 2003 and 50 lakh families were added to this scheme. In 2004, the scheme was expanded once again and 50 lakh families were added again. Overall, arrangements were made to provide ration at cheap rates to 2 crore families under this scheme. To identify these families, the Vajpayee government had conducted extensive surveys across the country and had ration cards made for them. Such cheap grains were never provided before. This was the world’s largest food security scheme.
Atalji was a true son of Maa Bharati, and his entire life was dedicated to the development of the poor, deprived, workers, farmers, villages and the progress of the country. The decisions taken by him for the welfare and upliftment of the nation were historic and unprecedented. Atalji’s ideal life will always inspire all of us, especially crores of Karyakartas.
(The writer is National President of BJP Kisan Morcha and MP)