5 Lessons to Learn from Atal Bihari Vajpayee

India is mourning the loss of our former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was a great human being, an eloquent poet and a brilliant statesman.

I think the best tribute to a person is when you learn from them. I'd like to share 5 lessons I learned from Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

1. Take your pauses: Everyone knows that Vajpayee was one of the best orators this country produced. All his speeches evoke self-reflection and passion. He had a signature style that incorporated long pauses and poetry. His pauses sometimes lasted for several seconds. Considering that his audience often included members of the opposition, these long pauses rarely turned into a window of interruption. There is a reason to that - he offered these pauses for the audience to self-reflect before he made the killer point. Here are a couple of speeches that I like - Resignation before the no confidence motion and Debriefing the parliament after the nuclear tests.
2. Stay unfazed by setbacks: Atal had to step down as the Prime Minister twice. The first time (1996) because they did not have the majority and the term ended in mere 13 days. In his speech before the resignation he established that he is the right man for the job. The speech also communicated his confidence that even though he was resigning, they would return to form the government after winning the people’s mandate. The prediction came true in 1998, and again in 1999. In one of the subsequent debates in 1997, he said, "Mark my words, today you people (Congress Party) are laughing at us for having less seats but the day will come we will have our Government all over India with the highest number of seats, that day people of this country will laugh at you." He stepped down the second time (1998) because they lost the trust motion by just 1 vote, ending their term in just 13 months. The narrowest margin in the history of the Indian Parliament. Finally, the party came back to power in 1999 and stayed for a full term. The first ever by a non-Congress party.
3. AjatShatru (means who has no enemies): One cannot claim that Vajpayee had no enemies. He was a strong opponent but enjoyed excellent rapport with his adversaries and leaders from divergent political leanings. He represented the Government of India even when he was not in power. Vajpayee was the leader of the opposition when he led the 1994 Geneva delegation to thwart a resolution initiated by our neighbor that challenged India's sovereignty over Kashmir. He was adept in distinguishing between political differences and the personality. While he opposed the ideology of his adversaries he respected them as a person.
4. Commitment to the cause: His journey for his cause to serve the country started in 1942 during the quit India movement and continued till he retired from politics in 2005. That's 63 years, an entire life committed to just one cause. He picked a variety of pathways to serve the cause including being a part of non-political groups at the start and later being a part of political groups. When he took over the reins for 13 days in 1996 he received a chit from his predecessor Narashimha Rao, urging him to pursue the unfinished task of making India a nuclear power. The only thing that Vajpayee considered was that this task was important for India's future and he gave his commitment. He had to wait for his second term in 1999 to execute it successfully.
5. Be prepared to pay the cost for your choices: Atal faced 3 major crisis situations, in May 1998 the sanctions applied by US in wake of the nuclear tests conducted, in May 1999 the Kargil War and in Dec 1999 the hijacking of the Air India flight to secure the release of militants. Observe the 3 situations - the first one was when he walked into it with full knowledge of the consequences, the second when he could pick his reactions and the third where his actions were forced. In all situations he paid a heavy price but did not hesitate in doing what was right. It would have been easy to remain a non-nuclear power or concede territory and play Geo-politics. I reckon, the most difficult choice was between losing innocent lives in the hijack or risking future militant action by the terrorists released.

We lost one of our finest! I pray for his soul!!