There are a lot of unknown facts about former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s early phase of political life. His foray into electoral politics began from the parliamentary constituency of Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh.
Balrampur is a small town in present-day Uttar Pradesh, about 170 km from Lucknow. Prior to Independence, it used to be a talukdari estate under a king. Thus, it was relatively untouched by the nationalist movement. Balrampur estate was well administered and Raja saheb of Balrampur was way ahead of his times. He had made arrangements for education, healthcare, street lights, drainage and supply of electricity to his subjects when it was still a dream for other surrounding areas.
In these circumstances, Atal ji was invited by local Jan Sangh and RSS volunteers to contest second general elections in 1957. He had never travelled to this part of the state. He was a 32-year-old young man and rising star of the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS). He unsuccessfully contested the Lucknow parliamentary elections in 1955, where he gave a tough fight to the ruling party despite many constraints of a new entrant. It helped him build up a reputation of an orator par excellence.
Recalling his foray from Balrampur, Atal ji said: “As far as the question of contesting parliamentary election from Balrampur was concerned, the party was relatively in a better shape in this seat in the sense of organisation and spirit of our workers. We had a good base amongst students, youths, shopkeepers, farmers, teachers, estate and government employees due to pioneering work done by Shri Pratap Narayan Tiwari, first as an RSS pracharak and later as a BJS worker. Our nationalistic and patriotic ideology had a great appeal and drew many new adherents. Local unit felt that we had a good chance to win. Tiwari ji wanted me to contest from this seat as he was impressed by my electoral debut from Lucknow seat. So, the party sent me to Balrampur.”
He continued, “I had no information on the history and geography of this area. Balrampur was a small town on a narrow-gauge line between Gonda and Gorakhpur. Though the monarchy was abolished, it had many landlords and many of them were Muslims who discriminated against Hindu population and it was the cause of resentment at the local level. During the campaign, I noted that many villages did not even have the permission to play conches and other musical instruments during their religious festivities. Thus, people were ready for a change and we provided an alternative in the form of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.”
Despite constraints vis-à-vis resources, Atal ji won his first parliamentary election from Balrampur in 1957 by a convincing margin. A young, energetic and a dynamic person who was 32 years of age, full of nationalistic and patriotic spirits entered Parliament. He contested three Lok Sabha elections from Balrampur. Won in two and lost one by mere 2,000 votes due to Machiavellian manipulation and the misinformation campaign by the Congress. Atal ji worked in Balrampur for fifteen formative years of his life. People of Balrampur had many fond memories of that time. There has been an immortal mutual bond of love, affection and admiration for him. I had an opportunity to witness it first-hand when I travelled in the interiors of this constituency (now, it is part of Shrawasti Lok Sabha seat) in 2013-14.
Coming from the family of teachers, he was appalled by the poor state of education of his constituency and focussed on its betterment. This is why the “Bharatiya Shiksha Prasaran Samiti” was born which was registered in Gonda, headed by Pratap Narayan Tiwari, and the Samiti did pioneering work in spreading education in this backward area. A chain of seven schools were opened under his guidance in Balrampur and surrounding areas. In a few of them, he has been a member of the management committee and signatory to many minutes himself. Many schools are still running and shaping the lives of our young children, many of them are in bad shape and have been taken over by vested interests. It is high time to reclaim and revitalise them so that they help us realise the vision of their founders.
Principal of a local school and a senior RSS functionary, Ram Kripal ji, expresses his concern about the sorry state of these schools. “Management committees of these schools have either become rudderless or disjointed. If they are brought together with a renewed sense of purpose, they can serve a greater purpose and it will be our true tribute to Atal ji,” he says.
The writer is the director at Delhi Institute for Administrative Services (DIAS), a well-known guru for civil services aspirants, heads the Yugpurush Atal Bihari Vajpayee Seva Sansthan, and is focussed on overall development of Balrampur-Shravasti area of Uttar Pradesh.