New Delhi: BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
who turned 88 today, was credited with giving the country the
concept of bipolar polity by his colleague L K Advani who said
shift from unipolar polity brought a "fundamental change" to
Indian politics.
"...the credit goes to three people - Shyama Prasad
Mukherjee, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But
the biggest contribution is of Vajpayee," he said at 'bhajan
sandhya' organised here in the honour of the former Prime
Minister.
He said while Mukherjee and Upadhyay got little time to
bring the shift, Vajpayee worked for nearly 60 years to end
single party rule in the country.
Advani, who was the Deputy Prime Minister in Vajpayee
Cabinet, said Jan Sangh, BJP and the NDA gave bipolar polity
to the country which was ruled by Congress during most part of
the post-Independence era.
He said during his previous yatras, he received active
guidance of Vajpayee, but during the latest Jan Chetna Yatra,
he could only receive the blessings of the party veteran which
helped him achieve the objectives.
"His absence was felt...," said Advani who was
accompanied by his wife Kamala on the occasion.
The gathering was also addressed by BJP President Nitin
Gadkari and NDA leaders Sharad Yadav (JD-U) and Manohar Joshi
(Shiv Sena).
Yadav said despite the ups and downs in his political
career, Vajpayee maintained a fine balance in his political
life which was worth emulating.
Gadkari said Vajpayee's good governance gave a new
direction to the BJP which has decided to observe his birthday
as 'good governance day'.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, December 25, 2011, 23:04