NEW DELHI, OCT. 15 (TNS): The 2002 riots in Gujarat was “possibly the biggest blot” on the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and that could have cost the BJP the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, says former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.
In the third volume of his autobiography titled “The Coalition Years 1996-2012”, he also feels the ruling NDA’s “India Shining” campaign spawned the opposite outcome and the Vajpayee government was routed in an election against most predictions that predicted a majority to the BJP-led coalition.
“Throughout this period (of the Vajpayee government) the demand for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya had been building up. The heightened communal tension had a distressing fallout in Gujarat which witnessed a communal carnage in 2002.
“The rioting began at Godhra, a small town in Gujarat, where 58 people were burnt to death in a fire that engulfed a compartment of the Sabarmati Express.
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The victims were all Hindu Kar Sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya.
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“This provoked widespread riots in many cities of Gujarat. Possibly the biggest blot on Vajpayee’s government, it may have been Godhra that cost BJP the next elections,” says Mr Mukherjee in a chapter on the “First Full Term Non-Congress Government”.
He says Mr Vajpayee was a consummate parliamentarian. With an excellent command over the language, he was a great orator who instantly connected with people and brought them together.
Mr Vajpayee’s signature in politics was achieving consensus, and in this process he earned the respect of his party, allies and opponents at home. Abroad, he projected a harmonious image of India and connected it to the world through his foreign policy outreach.
An emphatic and humble politician, the former President says, Vajpayee did not shy away from giving credit where it was due.
“We are not the initiators of reform. We are carrying forward a process that was started by the Narasimha Rao government, and continued by two United Front governments. But we do take the credit for having broadened, deepened and accelerated the reform process.”
Mr Vajpayee did not take political rivalries personally, says Mr Mukherjee.
