NEW DELHI, 16 April 2004 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee formally entered the electoral fray yesterday by filing nomination papers for the fifth consecutive term in Lucknow. He has contested successfully from here in 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Vajpayee filed his papers from the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state, flanked by key party leaders including his campaign manager Lalji Tandon, whose birthday celebrations here sparked the stampede on Monday which killed 26 people.
Nearly 2,000 political activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chanted slogans praising Vajpayee’s six-year rule, but the usual celebrations for such occasions — firecrackers and drums — were absent.
Twenty-four women and two children died as they jostled with one another to grab free saris distributed in a crowded park on Tandon’s 70th birthday.
“There was such pain and agony for those who died in the incident that my breath chokes when I think about it. But accidents do happen sometimes and our duty is to help the victims,” Vajpayee told party workers.
“We take a solemn pledge to do everything in our power to prevent such an incident from happening again,” Vajpayee said. The presence of Tandon by his side contradicted statements by party officials that he had been fired over the incident.
Later, in an interview to the NDTV network, Vajpayee said the stampede showed that India despite its growing economy had areas of neglect and poverty.
“It is surprising that so many women came for free saris. It shows that India has many aspects, some that shine and others that are still in the dark.
“This incident has come as a shock and made us realize that we cannot just focus on that part which is shining,” said Vajpayee, referring to a slogan coined by his government to highlight its achievements.
In his public speech, Vajpayee pledged to work toward long-pending legislation that would reserve parliamentary seats for women if his party returned to power.
“It is the men who have been opposing the law, but they should know that 50 percent of people cannot be ignored,” Vajpayee said.
The BJP has built its election campaign around an eight percent-plus economic growth this year, peppered with the construction of new highways and abundant foreign exchange reserves.
But the party remains under fire over 2002 riots in the BJP-ruled western state of Gujarat, where 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in vigilante violence after a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu activists.
Vajpayee in a separate interview to the Aajtak television network regretted the violence but said it was a result of the train attack, which killed 59 people.
“What happened in Gujarat was a result of two reasons and one cannot be ignored to highlight the other,” Vajpayee said.
“If one attack had not taken place then the other would not have happened. This does not mean that I advocate violence but in the kind of society we live in such things happen. But such violence should not happen,” the prime minister said.
The BJP government in Gujarat was widely accused of inaction during the riots.
A rather subdued Vajpayee told a small crowd of party workers that he had not even been inclined to contest elections. “This time I was not inclined to fight the elections and I told my friends about it.”
Since his friends and allies did not agree with Vajpayee’s view on there being “a limit to fighting elections,” the premier said he was compelled to join the fray. “I am a party worker and I have to abide by the wishes of the party.”
Highlighting the country’s progress under his government, Vajpayee asked the people to give his government more time to complete the goals. “I believe there is more to be done. We have taken a few steps, but we have not reached our destination,” he said.
“Who could have imagined India would have so much prestige outside the country?” And as his supporters chanted “Atal Behari Zindabad,” the 79-year old leader said, “We need more time, give us five more years.”
Despite BJP critics brushing aside BJP’s claims of achievements and blaming it for trying to win people’s support by selling them “dreams” of India’s development, Vajpayee’s victory from Lucknow is said to be certain.
The Lucknow battle has been deprived of its earlier political heat with senior advocate and former minister Ram Jethmalani having moved out of the race. Congress expected Jethmalani to be a good asset in exposing BJP’s weaknesses. With Jethmalini’s son having been flown to London for treatment, he has been compelled to leave the country.
Congress has decided to support former Mayor Akhilesh Das against Vajpayee. Das will, however, withdraw his candidature if Jethmalani returns to contest.
A group of living persons proclaimed as dead in revenue records have decided to field a candidate against Vajpayee. The association of the dead, “Mritak Sangh” have joined the electoral fray to attract attention to their plight. Das will file his nomination today, the last date of filing papers, highly placed Congress sources said yesterday.
There is the possibility of Jethmalani withdrawing from the contest after Vajpayee’s appeal to him last night to do so. Vajpayee had cited 40 years of friendship between them to appeal to him to withdraw from the contest.
Extending an olive branch to him, Vajpayee had disapproved of the attacks apparently by his party colleagues against Jethmalani.
In a statement, Vajpayee said he and Jethmalani had been friends and colleagues for 40 years now and had broadly shared political values and goals and were together in the fight for democracy.
Jethmalani had said that he was contesting the election as a matter of national duty and not friendship but would decide on Vajpayee’s appeal after consulting his supporters and parties which are backing him.
However, Congress sources here said that though Jethmalani has communicated to the party leadership that he was not going to withdraw his candidature against the prime minister, the party had decided to field Das, son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Banarsi Das Gupta.
