The August of 2018 was a month where quite a few veteran, renowned politicians of the country passed away.
We first lost the DMK patriarch (August 07), followed by Somnath Chatterjee (on the 13th), and then finally, that pole star of modern Indian politics called Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on the 16th.
Now I know, there is a very convenient, armchair way of laughing off politicians and even their deaths.
Good riddance, they weren't of any use anyway, they should all be packed off together, if anyone should die, it should be them first/only.
And suchlike (if not worse).
One can also see where all this comes from, and perhaps, it is the 99% of them who are giving the 1% of good ones a bad name!
What I can say for sure, is that like them or hate them, there is no denying the fact that these 3 politicians were stalwarts in their respective parties and ideologies.
Both Somnath Chatterjee and M Karunanidhi were among those select few, who were not only politicians but also titans and recognized not just within party or within their dominant states, but across the entire country too.
One prays that God blesses their souls, and they rest in peace.
But with due respects to both the departed souls, there is no doubt that if there was one person whose death tore the most number of hearts, it was of the great Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
I am only one of a multitude of fans, who learned how to be a role model despite being a politician.
A person who had no enemies even after being in public life for multiple decades.
A refined poet at heart, and a statesman of the highest calibre, Vajpayee ji was someone we all loved.
Often labelled as the right man in the wrong party, his moderate temperament in a party of hardliners, his ability to take everyone together, his amazing oratory, his vision, his incisive analysis on everything he spoke about - all contributed towards making him the tallest leader of modern Indian politics, by a mile.
It was the early/mid-1990s and as an impressionable youngster, I remember wanting him to speak in Parliament, so that I could learn and enjoy his oratorial finesse, through the newly started live debates, televised on the telly.
Such was his impact, that one would be ready to reconsider one's stand, if Atal ji had said something contrarian to one's perspective.
That is the hallmark of a true stateman and shows the amount of genuine respect and regard he commanded for his vision and leadership, along with his transparency and integrity.
More than anything else, I believe that Atal ji, a true Bharat Ratna, will be remembered for making sure that one could get/make role models and heroes even through as generally abominable a place as politics.
Along with Late Shri Chatterjee and Late Shri Karunanidhi, I hope and pray that may you also rest in peace, Atal ji.
India will forever be lucky that one of her sons was a gem called Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
