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Special on the Birth Centenary Year of Atalji
Dr. Vivek Kumar Mishra
Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was undoubtedly one of the most prominent and widely accepted leaders of our country who breathed his last on August 16th, 2018. An outstanding orator, born on 25th December 1924 in Gwalior, he saw India grow to new heights in his own life time. He earned the reverence of one and all because of his outstanding skills in the field of politics, prose and poetry.
The world has produced many tall leaders who got respect from the society, but very few received respect even from their critics, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of them. Vajpayee ji served as Prime Minister of India three times, once only for 13 days in 1996, and again for 11 months in 1998, thereafter he served one full term, during 1999-2004. Atal Ji served as a Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha for ten times and elected to Rajya Sabha twice in his political career. He created history by becoming the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India to serve a full-term. He was conferred India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 2015.
Atal Ji was a devoted ‘swayamsevak’ of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a unique social organization dedicated to India’s resurgence. Regarding his association with RSS, Atal ji once prominently said in the United States that “he may not be the Prime Minister tomorrow, but nobody could take away his right of being a swayamsevak.” He wrote about the RSS, “the RSS does not change only individuals, rather it changes the collective mind. This is the beauty of the RSS ethos. In our spiritual tradition an individual can attain great heights.” He was a firm believer of Hindutva ideology. He was founding father of Bhartiya Janata Party. He imbibed his values and strong traditions of national service from Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee
The world has produced many tall leaders who got respect from the society, but very few received respect even from their critics, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee
was one of them
and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay. As a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was already politically active by the age of 16. In 1951, he started working for Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a political wing of RSS.
Good Governance Day
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a leader who laid the found-ation of good governance by linking politics to values and Indian traditions. Atal ji’s, 90th birthday was declared as ‘Good Governance Day’ by present Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2014. Prime Minister Modi decided to follow the path of Vajpayee ji through commitment towards providing transparent, effective and accountable governance to the people of India. I feel it is a great honour for the people of India to celebrate good governance day annually on the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji.
Good Governance means a government based on development orientation, transparency and early and easy deliverance of services. Prime Minister Modi stated that “Good governance day on the birthday of our beloved leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, we reiterate our commitment towards providing transparent, effective and accountable governance to the people of this country.” He also stated that “during his tenure, Atal ji’s efficiency in dealing with various issues has proven very beneficial for nation.” That is why Prime Minister Modi has taken the decision to have his birthday celebrated as ‘Good Governance Day’.
The purpose for observing Atalji’s birthday as Good Governance Day is as under:
Building transparent and responsible administration.
Ensuring the welfare of common man
Devising good and effective policies for good governance
To give a corruption free administration to the people
To make people aware about the government commitment for providing a transparent and account-able administration in the country
To enhance the growth and development in the country.
To bring citizens closer to the government to make them active participants in the governance process.
Atal Bihari Vajpaayee strived for all above mentioned purposes through-out his tenure as Prime Minister. Observing a Good Governance Day at his birthday will be testimony of his lifelong service. Moreover, observing Good Governance Day will continuously remind of the Indian government that the ruling party should be impartial, development oriented and development should cover all the sectors of the society for whom Vajpayee devoted his life.
Vajpayee on Economic Governance
During his tenure, Vajpayee ji gave prominence to programmes aimed at the country’s development, rather than serving petty political interests. The basic idea of good governance was put forwarded by Vajpayee in his address at Asia Society in New York on September 7, 2000. He stated that “empowering the individual means empowering the nation, and empowerment is best served through rapid economic growth with rapid social change.” Indeed, these words reflected in his contribution towards the country. He not only improved the economy of India but also introduced several social reforms to uplift the unprivileged section of the society. During Vajpayee Government, India experienced one of its fastest periods of economic growth. India became an emerging power in Information Technology due to the reform programmes executed under his able and visionary guidance. Vajpayee ji’s firmly believed that every region, every community and every citizen of our country should enjoy the fruits of India’s prosperity and progress. He launched the Antyodaya Anna scheme to provide cheaper subsidized food grains to the poor, and expressed his commitment to the common man.
Atalji’s most memorable achievement was the ambitious roads projects he launched – the ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ and the ‘Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojana.’ The Golden Quadrilateral connected Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai through a network of highways while the Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojana was planned as a network of all-weather roads for unconnected village. Golden Quadrilateral was completed within a period of 5 years. The road construction reached 11 km of highways per day. The “Delhi Metro” project was launched by Vajpayee ji in 2002.
Vajpayee ji took India to the new heights by introducing economic reforms. Under his tenure from 1998 to 2004, India maintained a GDP rate of eight per cent, the inflation level within four per cent and foreign exchange reserves were flourishing. Atal ji’s commitment to reducing the government role in running businesses and industry was reflected in his commitment to reducing the government role in running businesses and industry was reflected in the formation of a separate disinvestment ministry. The most important disinvestments were Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) and Hindustan Zinc, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited and VSNL. The Vajpayee government made another radical reform by introducing the Fiscal Responsibility Act that aimed to bring down fiscal deficit.
(To be continued…)
(The writer teaches International Relations at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi)