LAST DAYS I GOT INFORMATION THAT ATAL BIHARI BAJPAYEE IS QUITING INDIAN POLITICS
END OF AN ERA
Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s formal induction into politics coincided with the launch of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the first genuine non-Congress party, on the eve of the first general election in 1951. But, in a sense, it was the Quit India movement that fired his nationalist zeal. He was arrested in 1942 for lending his voice to the mounting demand for freedom, little realising that 33 years later, he would make a second journey to prison for the same reason: He was among the stalwarts whom Mrs Indira Gandhi tried to silence, though in vain, during the bleak days of her Emergency.

Had formal politics in the form of the Jana Sangh not intervened, perhaps Mr Vajpayee would have spent his years indulging in his first love: Journalism. The monthly journal, Rashtra Dharma, made waves with young Vajpayee as its editor, as did the weekly Panchjanya. He went on to edit two dailies, Swadesh and Veer Arjun. Old timers still recall those days fondly when Mr Vajpayee would wield a stout pen during the day and spend the evenings with friends, indulging in light banter. Or walk into a cinema in Old Delhi to watch the latest box-office hit!

Mr L.K. Advani, whose association with Mr Vajpayee dates back to those early days when the Jana Sangh was still groping for a toehold in Indian politics, recalls a Delhi Corporation by-election in which the party candidate lost his deposit. “We waited for the result to be announced. Naturally, we were feeling dejected. I suggested to Atalji, `Chaliye, picture dekhte hain.’ We walked into Imperial cinema in Old Delhi and watched a film called, `Phir Subeh Hogi’.”

SO………….