Atal Bihari Vajpayee was so much more than a great orator, says Pranab Mukherjee

Former President Pranab Mukherjee saw former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from across the aisle for over five decades, and as senior leaders from the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), they often crossed swords in the House. Over the course of their encounters, they developed a warm friendship, built on respect and admiration. Mukerjee spoke to Saubhadra Chatterji and Prashant Jha about Vajpayee – the man, the politician, the leader, and the friend. Edited excerpts:

Atal Bihari Vajpayee and you were friends for more than five decades. How did this friendship evolve?

When I met him first, I used to watch his performance in Parliament but we were not personally known to each other. When I became a minister — first for revenue and expenditure and then revenue and banking — I used to go to Lok Sabha more frequently. But I don’t remember the exact occasion when I met him for the first time.Oh that became a big story. We used to go together for morning walks. But that morning, I was not there with him. I met him during a meeting with the Opposition parties in Parliament. He had a bandage in his hand. So, I asked him what happened. He replied, “Your dog has done this.”

He had a small dog. My wife (late Suvra Mukherjee) told me that my dog possibly attacked his dog, and as he tried to save his pet, he got injured.

He was very fond of food.

Yes. And my wife used to cook food for him. We lived next door and they made an entrance through a side wall so Vajpayee and his family members could come easily to our place. He was very fond of fish. Namita, his foster daughter, used to regularly play at our place. My wife and Mrs Kaul (Namita’s mother) had a very deep bonding. When Namita’s marriage was decided, my wife helped in preparations because the groom was a Bengali.
He was an excellent parliamentarian and carried people along with him. I think he was one of the top-most parliamentarians I have ever come across.

Although he represented a small party, Jana Sangh, but particularly after the Fourth Lok Sabha, from 1967 onwards, he was seen as the leader of the Opposition. He played the role of a titan in the Opposition space.

He was an excellent orator and very well-studied. Although his speeches were laced more with emotional appeal, he had a mastery over facts as well. What a parliamentarian must do is not to deliver an emotional speech alone but it should be backed by facts.

On several occasions, we debated in Parliament. In those times, a lot of legislative business was handled by the minister of state for finance. For instance, many states were under President’s Rule and their budgets, their supplementary demands, were handled by the MoS