‘Vajpayee came to Delhi to edit a paper, ended up leading the nation’
NEW DELHI: Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to Delhi four years after the Independence to edit a newspaper and ended up leading the nation from here, recalled veteran BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra.
Malhotra, who had a long association with Vajpayee, remembered how they started out together, first as journalists and then as colleagues in Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the earlier avatar of the BJP. Vajpayee was one of the founding members of the Jana Sangh, he said.
“He came to Delhi to join Veer Arjun as the city editor in 1951. I was a sub-editor. He left the paper in 1953 to work with Syama Prasad Mookerjee. After he won the first Lok Sabha election in 1957, he remained in the city and used to attend all significant events of the Jana Sangh,” said Malhotra, who was deputy leader in Lok Sabha during 2004-09.
“(LK) Advaniji and Deen Dayal Upadhyayji came to the city years later,” he added.
Vajpayee contested and won two elections from New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. The first time, it was on a Bharatiya Lok Dal ticket in 1977 and then, in 1980 as the candidate of the Janata Party.
Remembering Vapayee’s influence, Malhotra said in case of difference of opinion, it was the former PM who took the final call.
“Everyone would respect his views. His popularity in Delhi can be gauged from the fact that the party used to organise 10-15 meetings in a day during the elections. To draw the crowd to his rallies and elections meetings, we did not require posters or any publicity. He would speak for about an hour sometimes while other big leaders finished within 10-15 minutes,” Malhotra said.
Before big rallies at Ramlila Maidan, he was invited to speak at Hauz Qazi and Bara Tooti Chowk in Sadar Bazar, said Malhotra, who was Chief Executive Councillor of Delhi’s Metropolitan Council (a post equivalent to chief minister) in 1967.