Vajpayee was the Ajatshatru of Indian politics: former President Ram Nath Kovind

‘He was a rare combination of a politician, poet, fearless human being and sympathetic leader who had no enemies, like Ajatshatru’

Former President of India Ram Nath Kovind said that late the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not only instrumental in installing a portrait of the founder of the Indian Constitution B.R. Ambedkar in Parliament House but had also declared in a speech that the BJP did not work on the lines of the Manusmriti but on “Bhimsmriti” or the Indian Constitution. “That speech had worked a lot in the image makeover of BJP and changing perception of a particular section of society about the party’s policies and ideologies,” Mr. Kovind said.

Mr. Kovind was delivering 5th Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture in Delhi on the eve of Vajpayee’s birth anniversary organised by the India Foundation. Speaking on the topic of ‘Social Empowerment Through Good Governance: The Vajpayee Way’, Mr. Kovind said that transparency and welfare of all was the key to Vajpayee’s governance and that made him rule hearts. He said former Prime Minister was a “rare combination of a politician, poet, fearless human being and sympathetic leader who had no enemies, like Ajatshatru”.

“The current schemes like the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Jan Dhan and Mudra are the vision of the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the present government, being led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is fulfilling his dream and vision,” Mr. Kovind added.

Giving credit to Vajpayee for motivating him to join politics, Mr. Kovind said that the former Prime Minister always kept “the nation before politics”. Vajpayee supported the then Indira Gandhi-led Congress government during the 1971 war with Pakistan. In 1994, the then Congress government led by late former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had support from Vajpayee to present India’s stand on Kashmir at the United Nations.

Explaining how Vajpayee had immense respect for Ambedkar, Mr. Kovind said that Vajpayee always use to tell him [Mr. Kovind] that it was painful to see there was “no picture of Babasaheb in the Parliament”. He added that it was Vajpayee who brought a painting of Ambedkar to the Parliament and it was Vajpayee who had requested a Bharat Ratna for Ambedkar.

“Mr. Vajpayee was the one who announced that a museum should be constructed at the house of B.R. Ambedkar in Delhi. The other governments stopped the work on the museum when they came in power. In 2018, the current government under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi completed the dream of Mr. Vajpayee,” Mr. Kovind added.

Vajpayee’s focus on women’s education, road network to rural areas, and communication revolution, were also prominently mentioned by Mr. Kovind in his lecture.