Even in death, a unifier of Opposition leaders
NEW DELHI: The new headquarters of Bharatiya Janata Party at 6, Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg, was never graced by its founding father Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
On Friday, the headquarters was the venue of Vajpayee’s final journey, where leaders across the political spectrum from Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav to Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal were in attendance.
Even in death, Vajpayee managed to build ‘consensus’ among the Opposition parties – as he so frequently did in his heyday.
As Opposition leaders entered the BJP headquarters, BJP leaders greeted them with folded hands. They also met with the bereaved family members of Vajpayee.
Vajpayee’s friend and confidante Lal Krishna Advani, helped by his daughter who held his hand, also met opposition leaders with folded hands. A friendship of politics can be
more than political and that’s what the Advani-vajpayee era taught to Indian politics.
Mulayam Singh was among the leaders who met Advani, who blessed the former by placing his hand on the Samajwadi Party leader’s head.
Some believed that with Vajpayee, may be an era of politics beyond the partisan identity also died in India.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said that Vajpayee wanted India to belong to everyone. “He also wanted to strike up a friendship with Pakistan. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see that. I hope that the current governmetnt and Pakistan’s Imran Khan government fulfil his dream, that will be a true tribute to him.”
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP MP Sanjay Singh also paid their last respects to the former prime minister.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, another attendee, said, “It was the speciality of Atal ji that he never let humanity be harmed due to the political and ideological differences. Such a principle is needed in the country today.”