Jawaharlal Nehru predicted Atal Bihari Vajpayee would become PM 'one day'
New Delhi : Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had quite a few things in common. Both Nehru and Vajpayee were the first leader from their respective parties to become the Prime Minister of India. As incumbent prime minister, Nehru had predicted that Vajpayee would occupy his seat "one day".
Before joining politics, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a journalist. He worked for newspapers like Rashtra Dharma of RSS ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, Panchjanya (the RSS mouthpiece in Hindi) and dailies - Veer Arjun and Swadesh.
Four years after becoming an RSS pracharak (full-time worker), Vajpayee got associated with the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (precursor to the BJP) in 1951. He was the political secretary to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the BJS founder-president, when the latter launched campaign against the government's permit order for entering Jammu and Kashmir.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the one to pack the baggage for Mookerjee and saw him off at the Delhi railway station on 8 May 1953 as the BJS leader left on a mission to enter Jammu and Kashmir defying the entry permit order. Mookerjee was arrested on the Jammu and Kashmir border. He was found dead on 23 June in Srinagar jail under mysterious circumstances.
Vajpayee carried Mookerjee's message - "there can't be two law codes (vidhaan), two chiefs (pradhaan) and two symbols (nishaan) - for a bigger agitation to the rank and file of the party. Vajpayee became a full-time member of the BJS in 1953 after Mookerjee's death.
Vajpayee saw a meteoric rise in the BJS, which nominated him as a candidate in 1955 by-election for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, which had fallen vacant following resignation of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the sister of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Vajpayee's election campaign was noted for his impressive oratorical skills. He finished third in the bypoll.
Two years later, Vajpayee was nominated from three Lok Sabha seats in the second general elections by the BJS. Vajpayee won from Balrampur, finished runner-up in Lucknow and lost deposit at Mathura. Coming from a small party against the Congress of Pandit Nehru, Vajpayee performed exceptionally well as a debutant parliamentarian.
Vajpayee got the attention of Pandit Nehru with the range of questions that he raised in the Lok Sabha, speeches that he delivered and interventions that he made in the proceedings of the House. His range varied from international developments like German Unification to domestic laws.
Pandit Nehru was so influenced with his eloquence in Hindi that in 1957 he predicted Vajpayee to be the prime minister of India in future. While introducing Vajpayee to a foreign dignitary, Nehru said, "This young man one day will become the country's prime minister." Nehru's prediction came true almost 40 years later in 1990s.
Vajpayee, despite having told Nehru to "have a split personality", had tremendous respect for the first prime minister. When Vajpayee became the external affairs minister in 1977, he returned the favour that Nehru might have done by making "the PM prediction".
As Vajpayee was set to take charge of the external affairs ministry, the bureaucrats got busy with removing all the signs of Congress rule in the office as the Janata Party had won on a huge anti-Indira anti-Congress wave. On entering his office, Vajpayee was quick to notice a blank spot on the wall.
Historian Ramchandra Guha has quoted Vajpayee as telling his secretary, "This is where Panditji's portrait used to be. I remember it from my earlier visits to the room. Where has it gone? I want it back." Pandit Nehru remains the longest-serving foreign minister of India - 17 years.
courtesy : indiatoday.in
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PM Modi speaks to Iranian president, discusses 'serious' situation in West Asia
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian over the phone and discussed the "serious situation" in West Asia.
Modi expressed deep concern over the escalation of tensions in the region and the loss of civilian lives as well as damage to civilian infrastructure.
The prime minister told the Iranian President that the safety and security of Indian nationals, along with the need for unhindered transit of goods and energy, remain India's top priorities.
“Had a conversation with Iranian President, Dr Masoud Pezeshkian, to discuss the serious situation in the region. Expressed deep concern over the escalation of tensions and the loss of civilian lives as well as damage to civilian infrastructure,” Modi said in a post on X.
The prime minister also reiterated India's commitment to peace and stability and urged dialogue and diplomacy to end the crisis.
The prime minister had spoken to leaders of several West Asian countries in the last 10 days in the wake of the coordinated offensive launched against Iran by the United States and Israel, in which the Islamic country's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was killed last month.
In retaliation, Iran has fired drones and missiles at Israel and US military installations around the Gulf region, including the global business and aviation hubs of Dubai and Doha.
Modi earlier spoke to the leaders of Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Israel and Qatar, and expressed concern over the attacks on their countries, and condemned the violation of some nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He also discussed the welfare and security of the Indian community residing in those countries.
Around 1 crore Indians live in the Gulf and West Asia. While about 10,000 Indian citizens live, study and work in Iran, more than 40,000 live in Israel.
