SIDDHARTHTH NATH SINGH

In 2001, I had gone to 7 Race Course Road with a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) media team to record a speech by the Prime Minister, and I got the opportunity of being introduced to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the grandson of Lal Bahadur Shastri. With a straight face, Atal ji said: “He cannot be Shastriji’s grandson”. Then came the typical Atalji pause that made me more nervous. He smiled and said: “You are taller than Shastriji”. We all broke into laughter. When I met him for the second time, he remembered me and said, “You look a bit like Shastriji” and added: “Looks can come but what is important to have is Shastriji’s mild manner and strong character. He was a true son of the soil”. Those words still ring in my ears.

Shastriji’s family and nation are indebted to Atalji and his government because after Shastriji’s death in 1966, the family always wanted 1 Moti Lal Nehru Place (the house where he lived in as prime minister) to be converted into a national memorial. My grandmother, Lalita Shastri, had requested previous governments, but the request always remained confined to files. I recall reading in a national daily that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government would not convert former leaders’ residences into memorials. I informed my mother and made her speak to senior BJP leader L K Advani. On the same evening, a cabinet meeting took place and I learnt that Atalji had said an exception should be made for Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Atalji was popularly known as Baapji by many of us. In a true sense, he reflected that quality. I recall that in 2006, on an important issue, a press conference took place at 6A Krishna Menon Marg. Being the national media convenor, I had to organise the conference followed by lunch. Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha addressed the press. Later,