File photo: Atal Bihari Vajpayee with Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former PM and the BJP's gold standard of leadership, this morning, before heading to his constituency Varanasi where he celebrated Mr Vajpayee's birthday as "good governance day" by participating in a series of programmes. (
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"There is no bigger tribute to Atalji than celebrating his birthday as 'Good Governance Day' & pledging to devote ourselves to this cause," Mr Modi tweeted about the man whose large shoes he has filled as a BJP Prime Minister. (
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Yesterday, his government announced the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, for Mr Vajpayee.
Through his high-energy campaign for the national elections this year, in which he scripted a massive victory for the BJP, Mr Modi repeatedly promised in speeches to live up to the high standards of governance and statesmanship set by Mr Vajpayee, the man in whose footsteps he would follow. (
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Their style of oratory was compared and many saw in Mr Modi's choice of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh for his Lok Sabha constituency, another attempt to claim the legacy of Vajpayee - who contested from Lucknow in the same state. (
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At an election rally in Srinagar this month, Mr Modi promised to walk in Mr Vajpayee's footsteps, invoking his vision of "
Insaaniyat, Kashmiriyat and Jamhooriyat (humanity, the essence of being a Kashmiri and democracy)," in a famous speech at the same venue in 2003.
A year before that, in April 2002, Mr Modi had sat beside Mr Vajpayee at a press conference when the latter made his comment on "Rajdharm", sparking intense speculation that he was unhappy with Mr Modi's handling of the Gujarat riots under his watch days before. Hundreds of people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the riots. (
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Asked what words of advice he had for Mr Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Vajpayee had said, "He must perform his
Rajdharam...a leader must not discriminate among his people," also adding, "I believe he is performing his
Rajdharam." (
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That same month, when the ruling BJP met in Goa to discuss forthcoming elections, Mr Vajpayee was reportedly insistent that Mr Modi could not continue as Gujarat Chief Minister. It was on the intervention of his deputy LK Advani, that Mr Vajpayee reportedly came around.
Earlier this year, both Mr Vajpayee, who is now very unwell, and Mr Advani were designated mentors or
margdarshak by the BJP and were moved out of the parliamentary board, a team of top 12 decision makers.