Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today joined Himachal and nation remembering the former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna, late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Thakur unveiled Vajpayee's statue at Prinni village in the tourist town of Manali on the occasion of his birth anniversary. Incidentally, December 25 is celebrated as Merry Christmas across the world.
But the homilies and tributes of remembrance to the statesman should not be confined to raising his statues and reciting his poems. His deeds and vision for India should be practiced and new ideas should emerge for development of India's future. The long interlude of his illness and anonymity that finally led to his demise on August 16, 2018 should not be a reason for being complacent for burying ideals and values he defended in and outside Parliament, in the sands of time, commented his admirer.
Vajpayee is remembered by people in remote areas and villagers across Himachal and other states in the Himalayan region for his vision for rural road connectivity. Under his novel scheme, Prime Minister Gramin Sarak Yojna, most of the villages are linked by roads to the towns and markets, boosting their economic development.
Vajpayee was also an intrepid statesman. He understood the dynamics of strategic politics of nuclear deterrent in Asia and the world as a whole. It was during his tenure that India won the Kargil war against Pakistan in July 1999.
Unfazed by the pressure put by the world's supper powers, Atal Bihari Vajpayee made India a strong nuclear power even as his regime lasted for few months in 1998. India conducted its Pokhran-II, a series of five nuclear explosions in May 1998 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Pokhan-II was led by India's top scientist Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who later became President of India, and his team of 100 scientists and technicians. Pokhran -1 was conducted in 1974 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that later went into making India a Nuclear power.
As a befitting tribute to Vajpayee, the government named the tunnel as Atal Rohtang tunnel that has now given an all-weather connectivity to people of Lahaul-Spiti and further to the forward sector of Ladakh and Siachen, the highest battleground on earth.
People of Lahaul-Spiti have a special place for Atal Bihari Vajpayee in their heart. It was his friend Tashi Dawa, a resident of Lahaul with whom Vajpayee used to discuss development of Lahaul-Spiti and shared the idea of tunnel to link the landlocked valley with Kullu-Manali forever.
Whenever he used to come to his summer home at Prinni he used to tell people that “he felt as if a big boulder is lying on his chest”, referring to the impregnable Rohtang Pass, recalled Prinni residents.
During his tenure as Prime Minister from 1999-2004 Atal Bihari Vajpayee put the idea of Rohtang Tunnel into practice and constructed the road approach from Manali side to the south portal of the tunnel. Later, the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Chairperson of UPA-I Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the Rohtang tunnel in Manali in 2010.
But it was Prime Minister Narender Modi, who fast-tracked the construction of the tunnel in 2014. He opened the tunnel in 2020 linking the Lahaul valley permanently with the rest of the country fulfilling the dream project of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Reciting and tweeting his poems that Vajpayee had composed in Manali, Jai Ram Thakur recalled the contribution made by Vajpayee to the development of Himachal Pradesh, particularly the construction of the strategic Rohtang tunnel under the 13500 ft high Rohtang Pass.
Vajpayee used to compose poems in Prinni and used to recite them to locals in the green environs of the Manali circuit house whenever he visited Manali. Vajpayee was a great statesman with his gifted oratory skills, wit and wisdom and his abled leadership, said the residents.
During his lifetime Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to make beeline for Prinni, where he made his summer home and spent his holidays with his adopted family. He visited the village till 2007, but he did not come here after his health deteriorated, recalled Kundan Thakur, former Pradhan of Prinni panchayat.
People of Prinni still have special regards for Vajpayee as he used to spend time with the villagers and contributed to development of village. Vajpayee also used to visit historic Naggar castle, and the resort of his admirer Chandrasen Thakur, who died in 2020. He was also fond of trout fish and Lal Chawal. He along with the family members would make it a point to visit a local food hut in Manali.
Chief minister also paid tributes to Vajpayee at his statue at the historical The Ridge in Shimla. He also opened Atal Gyan Kendra in Manali that will give the students an easy access to the digital library. Thakur also released a special issue of a Hindi journal highlighting the life history of Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the occasion brought out by Dr Inder Singh Thakur, a writer and poet. He was accompanied by the education minister and Manali MLA Gobind Singh Thakur and other citizens of the town (see pic).
(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor Himbumail)
