Atal Bihari Vajpayee is undoubtedly the most respected statesman of India. His tenure as the prime minister and the preceding tenures as external affairs minister as well as a Member of Parliament won him the love of not only the masses but his political opponents as well. His poetic style and nationalistic mindset led to his widespread popularity.
Such was his persona that he shared a good chemistry and rapport with many Congress leaders as well. In fact, his cordial relations with PV Narsimha Rao were well known. Even though the two belonged to separate political groups and represented diametrically opposed views, they shared a good rapport. Apart from this, several opponents including senior Congress leaders looked at him with utmost respect.
However, if there is any one politician who was disgraceful in conduct with the former prime minister, it is former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. There are many instances where she gave cold shoulder to Atal Bihari ji. At other times, she even made bitter and unacceptable remarks about him. One such instance was the Pokhran nuclear test. The entire nation was rejoicing after the nuclear test realising that it was a shot in the arm as far as India’s status in the international community is concerned. With neighbors like China and Pakistan this was very much a necessity. India had successfully tested the series of five nuclear bombs at the Indian Army’s Pokhran test range in 1998. However, at such a historic time Sonia Gandhi chose to remain silent and did not utter a word of praise about Vajpayee’s exemplary leadership. She spoke only after ten days. However, she did not praise him and in fact, sought to undermine this national achievement. She stated that ‘Real strength lies in restraint, not in display of Shakti’. This was an apparent barb at the entire operation. The 1998 Pokhran-II tests came to be known as Operation Shakti. However, living in a world of her own, Sonia Gandhi opined that developing strength was futile. In face of ferocious neighbors, she unreasonably wished that India remained devoid of nuclear strength. Undermining national interest for political gains, she argued that India need not display strength. However, she was exposed when former CIA director said that CIA did not have a clue about the nuclear test and also stated that they were taken by surprise. Pokhran was accepted as one of India’s biggest achievements till date but the Congress chief was adamant on unnecessarily politicizing the entire issue.
Atal Bihari ji was seen as someone having no enemies in the entire political spectrum. However, Sonia Gandhi did not seem to care about it. In a rally in Ujjain in the year 1999, she went on to call the then prime minister Vajpayee ‘gaddar’ (traitor). She did not even care for the respect that the top post carries with itself. Moreover, Atal Bihari ji was known for his pro-nation mindset since the beginning of his political career. It was absolutely disgusting of Sonia Gandhi to make such a disgraceful remark. Prime minister, Narendra Modi who was the then national BJP general Secretary, severely criticized the Congress president for this and demanded a public apology. However, Sonia Gandhi did not stop here. In 2002 she again made irresponsible remarks about the beloved statesman and said that Atal Bihari ji had lost his mental balance.
Atal Bihari ji had mastered the art of severely criticizing his opponents but still not making any objectionable or unparliamentary remarks. It is shameful that despite even the Congress leaders sharing a good rapport with the legendary orator, Sonia Gandhi was never at rightful conduct with Atal ji. Her unparliamentary and utterly disgraceful remarks will go down as a blot on the history of public discourse in independent India.