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Atal Bihari Vajpayee

25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018

By Venkaiah Naidu

His clarity of thought, strength of convictions, vision for the country and his idea of the inescapable course the nation needs to take to attain glory made him relaxed, even look detached, to the amazement of his peers.

65 year of political career – 56 years in opposition 9 years in power.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha 10 times and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He was the Minister of External Affairs in the Morarji Desai government and later became prime minister thrice.
He made seminal contributions to the growth and evolution of India since Independence.
He was not merely an orator enjoying the liberty of the flights of imagination while in Opposition, but a decisive leader when required to resolve the problems confronting the nation.
He had won several battles both as an Opposition politician but even more as the prime minister.

“Mission Connect India” – radically re-scripting the contours of various core sectors like telecom, infrastructure — including national highways, rural roads, airports and ports — private-sector participation and disinvestment.

“Jai Vigyan” to Lal Bhahadur Shastri’s slogan of “jai jawan, jai kisan”

Both the common man and the political class were won over by his charm, character and conduct. He was a national icon and a true “Ajatha Shatru”, one who had no enemies.

He was in the mould of a “philosopher-king”. A king who ruled the hearts of all Indians by his words and deeds.

By – Pratap Bhanu Mehta : The man of heart

ABV exuded an air of true fakiri: He always gave the impression he was in it for the enjoyment, not the success.
He managed to make sure that the line between being mesmerising and being a demagogue was not crossed.
As PM, he failed to draw a clear line around tolerating heinous violence in Gujarat.
His invocation of raj dharma was tepid. If he had benefited from one evasion — on Babri Masjid — his reputation suffered because of another evasion: Gujarat.
Iraq war → ‘’everyone knows how to begin one, no one knows how to end one”
His defeat was a shock, but NDA-1 did leave solid foundations for UPA-I to build on.
But he did do what successful prime ministers do: Immeasurably raise the expectations for what a country can achieve.
He was living testament to the fact that liberality of temperament, detachment, love of life and relationships, have even the power to transcend the limitations of the ideologies that trap us.

By NK Singh –

Vajpayee era was a watershed in economics and foreign policy

➢ BJP’s image of a right-wing party with limited appeal transformed into a national party.

➢ Formal economics was not his forte – took advice – often faced resistance from party

➢ Multiple highways and roads projects

➢ His path-breaking efforts on ties with the US and his visit to Pakistan represent the goodwill he had across nations.

➢ Support for the Jaswant Singh – Strobe Talbott dialogues helped overturn the Indo-US relations, which had strained following the Pokhran Nuclear Tests.

By Vinay Sitapati

▪ Deendayal Upadhayaya identified Vajpayee as an orator and Advani as an organiser.

▪ He had crafted the early BJP as a secular, socialist legatee of the Janata party

▪ He had also opposed the Ayodhya movement.

▪ It was Advani who was the RSS’s choice for PM for the 1996 elections.

▪ Rajkumari Kaul – “liberal” influence on ABV

▪ On the eve of the Babri demolition, he gave a speech in Ayodhya saying “the ground has to be levelled” of “sharp stones”.

▪ Vajpayee will be remembered for his tolerance, humour, and large-heartedness.

▪ He will also be evoked for balancing two ideas of India — the Nehruvian liberal and Hindu nationalist.

▪ Worshipped Parliament

By Sudheendra Kulkarni – Democrat in Nehruvian mould

Treated aam aadmi and khaas aadmi alike
Never even a trace of arrogance in his conduct.
Remarkable ability to reach out to people across the ideological, political, and religious divides
Belief- India’s vastness and the depth of its socio-cultural diversity defy any ideological straitjacket.
Took holistic view of things – A responsible political party and government should never espouse some interests and neglect others.

The deluge

Unprecedented rainfall causes havoc in Kerala
Kerala is reeling under the worst floods since 1924.
30 per cent in excess monsoon in the state.
All 44 rivers in the state are in spate
35 of its 39 dams are overflowing.
A red alert has been sounded in all 14 districts while 12 of them are already flooded.
94 persons have died • Immediate concern is rescue and relief
Excess rainfall is primarily responsible for the disaster, but unplanned development, particularly in construction and quarrying, have contributed to the death and destruction.
Construction boom in recent years has taken a toll on the state’s wetlands and river valleys
Paddy fields have been turned into real estate and released for construction. This has reduced the area available for rain and flood waters to spread.
Better management of watersheds

Better planning and co-ordination in the opening of dams may have helped to phase out the release of excess storage from reservoirs, limiting the extent of the floods.
The Gadgil Committee report on conservation of the Western Ghats had flagged the need for better regulation and management of the hill region.
It was resisted by a large section of residents and rejected by the political mainstream.
The government may need to revisit the report and restrain certain types of environment-unfriendly activities in the hills.
The protection of wetlands will also need to be pursued urgently and necessary corrections made in development plans.

Goodbye Captain

Ajit wadekar made his international cricket debut in 1966.
He batted at number three and was considered to be one of the finest slip fielders.
Wadekar also captained the Indian cricket team which won series in the West Indies and England in 1971.
Also served as the manager of the Indian cricket team in the 1990s,
Wadekar wasn’t an Oxford idealist but a Mumbai pragmatist, with an eye for detail.
He would often say, “Just remember your 100s and forget the ducks.

” Tracking you and me

Google collects location history despite users’ objections.

20th century – The shadow of a nuclear holocaust, of World War III between the heavily armed camps of the Cold War, cast a pall over “life as we know it”. One trigger-happy leader could spell the end of days. People continued to live and work as though the world wasn’t about to explode,

21st century – The age of social media, the internet, smartphones and big data, it seems a new paranoia is that we are all under surveillance.

Google map has been seemingly spying on those who would rather not share their location history.
When iOS and Android users turned off their “location history”, Google continued to collect their data — it stores a snapshot of where you are when you open Maps.
Google and Facebook both provides clear descriptions of tools and how to turn them off
US brands alone are set to spend about $20 billion on locationtargeted advertising in 2018.

The conveniences of the Smartphone is too great to let privacy be a dampener.