These stalwarts kept mutual respect above political rivalry
KANPUR : During the peak of summers in the 80s, Bhagwati Prasad Visharad was looking for a fifth term in the state assembly on a Congress ticket.
He was going door-to-door with a motley group of supporters, when his arch rival Chowdhary Devki Nandan of the Bharatiya Jan sangh passed in a jeep.
Seeing Visharad, Nandan asked the driver to stop the jeep.
He walked towards Visharad and touched his feet publicly in Lal Kuan locality in Unnao. Visharad, lovingly known as “miniGandhi” in the region, placed his hand on his head and said ‘Vijayi Bhava’ (be victorious).
“I saw this with my own eyes. Can you imagine this civility and mutual respect among politicians today when the political discourse is getting uglier by the day,” said Suresh Phakkad, a poet in Unnao.
Visharad, a freedom fighter, used to contest from Bhagwant Nagar, Unnao —he represented the constituency six times from 1957. And so did Devki Nandan three times — each time he won against Visharad.
More than their rivalry it was their bonding and respect for each other that is still talked about as an example for the current breed of politicians.
“Those were the good old days. The lack of civility is not good for democracy. I do not recall that they ever passed any personal remarks against each other,” recalled Hriday Narayan Dixit, Speaker of UP Vidhan
Sabha, and MLA from Bhagwant Nagar town in Unnao district.
At that time Devki Nandan was district president of the Jan Sangh and Dixit the general secretary. “They represented contrasting ideologies and believed in them while holding their ground. Their use of words for political opponents was the beauty of decorum,” he said.
After a day of hard canvassing, both Visharad and Devki Nandan would sit together on the ground discussing prospects with each other jovially, said old-timers.
“They would discuss in which village people were happy or unhappy with them. Who does that? But now, candidates try to avoid each other,” said Shailendra Dixit, a social scentist of Unnao.
Phakkad added that Visharad’s official residence in
Dar-ul-Shafa, a building in Lucknow converted into residential quarters for government employees and MLAs, was shared by Devki Nandan who did not have an allotted house at that time.
As MLAs, both led by example. Visharad never rode a scooter and travelled in a bus to connect with people.
“He carried a jhola (bag) containg his letter head. He noted down complaints of people on the letter heads and gave it to officials,” said Mirza Arif Baig, another social scientisy who saw them working.
Devki Nandan also personally visited officials in case anyone needed help. In case officials did not solve the problem after two calls, he would lose his temper and ensure that the work was done, he recalled.
Recalling their conduct, the assembly speaker said: “Politics is an instrument for social change. Those who pursue politics have their ideologies and they should remember that having different thoughts doesn’t mean they forget how they should speak and behave. Democracy needs civility in political discourse.”