A temple in Gwalior where admirers chant his poems
BHOPAL: Call it placing the temple before the former prime minister.
Thirteen years before Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away, a group of impatient admirers got a temple constructed in his name in his hometown, Gwalior.
The idea was to promote Hindi but Vajapyee was not willing. He repeatedly shot down their requests but they kept badgering him till he agreed with two conditions — the temple would have to be a small one and no idol of him could be installed in it.
Accordingly, in 2005, a small temple came up at Satyanarayan ki Tekari where Vajpayee used to spend time since he was a schoolboy. Among the group of admirers were a few lawyers, including Vijay Singh Chouhan.
Chouhan recalled that Vajpayee had barred the spending of too much money on the temple or installation of an idol in his likeness. So, they decided to place a picture of Vajpayee’s in the temple to mark that it had been built in his honour. “Atal ji is an inspiration for poets. We wanted to construct a temple to promote Hindi. Atal ji won the hearts of millions across the globe by delivering his speech at the UN in Hindi,” Chouhan said.
For poets and Hindi lovers, the temple has become a place to congregate. “Many young poets get inspiration from the temple but we want the government to build a memorial to him. We worship him daily and chant his poems,” said Naseem Rafat, a veteran poet from Gwalior.