West Bengal Governor unveils portrait of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Dhankhar said, “It is indeed an honour and privilege for me, particularly as the first Governor of the State of West Bengal born in Independent India, to unveil the portrait of one of the greatest sons of the soil, former Prime Minister of India, Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”

He said, “The very day the idea was conceived on November 27, 2019, I wrote a letter to the Hon’ble Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee earnestly proposed her to kindly unveil the portrait of Atalji for whom she has been publicly and rightly appreciative.”

“I made this suggestion also for the reason that late Atalji had a great role in the political career of Mamataji and she as the Chief Minister was eminently suited for this. May be on account of her preoccupations she has not been able to respond and spare time. I am thus called upon to perform that part of unveiling the portrait of the great leader,” Mr Dhankhar said.

The Governor said, "The occasion is a befitting one being his birth anniversary. This happens to be the first portrait in Raj Bhawan, Kolkata of the most important politician in the 20th Century India, whose political life spanned almost the entire period of independence post 1942."

" While participating in the ‘Quit India Movement’, he was arrested along with his brother, Prem, for 24 days. Vajpayee was a member of the Indian Parliament for over four decades, having been elected ten times to the Lok Sabha, and twice to the Rajya Sabha, " he said.

Mr Dhankhar said, " During the Indira Gandhi government’s draconian emergency of 1975, Vajpayee was arrested along with several opposition leaders. "

“He was presented with India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 2015, by the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. The Modi government very
appropriately declared, in 2014, that Vajpayee’s birthday on 25th December would be observed as ‘Good Governance Day,'” the governor said.

“I have had the great fortune of knowing the legend personally while I was in Parliament as Member of the 9th Lok Sabha.  I have vivid recollections of spending
time in his august company while being part of the Indian delegation to the European Parliament in 1990-91,” Mr Dhankar said.

The Governor said, “Vajpayeeji was gifted with many sterling qualities that always integrated him with the people at large. He has rightly been described as a “school of public life”. 

He displayed exemplary and enormous patience and grit under most difficult and trying circumstances.He was Godly gifted parliamentarian whose both
eloquence and silence had a message for any momentous occasion.”

Mr Dhankhar said, " A sublime aspect of Vajpayeeji’s long political career was that he had virtually no enemies.  His guiding principle was that there could be rivalry but no enmity in politics and this well meaning approach needs to be recalled and emulated in present times.

"Vajpayeeji had the distinction of being the first pure non-Congress Prime Minister of the country. In a sense this also signals the spinal strength and vibrance of our
democracy. He also happens to be the first Prime Minister who completed a full term while leading a coalition government and believed in ‘coalition dharam’," the
governor said.

“Three times Prime Minister of the country, Vajpayeeji was spinally strong when it came to national interest.  He took a courageous and strategically vital decision in
May 1998 to make India a nuclear power and conducted Nuclear Tests despite the opposition of several world powers,” Mr Dhankhar said.

The Governor said, " Under his leadership, India successfully overcame sanctions imposed by certain super powers.Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government, India gained the status of ‘full-fledged nuclear state’. Pokhran-II was the second Indian nuclear test. A month later, the Indian forces registered decisive victory over Pakistan in the Kargil War."

He said, "Besides all these, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government at the centre needs to be credited for creation of new departments like Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Department of North-East Region and converting the Social Welfare Ministry into the Ministry of Social Justice."

"Under his visionary leadership for the first time in the post-independence history of India, the process of long overdue creation of three new small states (Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand) was seamlessly taken to its logical end through, what can be described as Politics of Consensus," Mr Dhankhar said.

He made earnest efforts to normalise relations with Pakistan, beginning with his historic Bus Yatra to Lahore in February 1999, the governor said.

Mr Dhankhar said, "As Leader of the Opposition, he unleashed relentless attack on the Government of the day, but never downplayed the achievements of the said Government.

He said one of his extraordinary quality was, when to speak and when to be quiet.

"The first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had the occasion to reflect when 33 year old Vajpayeeji was elected to Parliament in 1957. Pt Nehru said about Vajpayeeji that he was one of the world’s greatest orators and predicted that one day he would hold high Office. The world has seen that observations of Pt Nehru were prophetic,” the governor said.

“It is a befitting tribute to Vajpayeeji on his birth anniversary that Raj Bhavan, Kolkata, will have his portrait and the same would ever inspire and motivate the people to serve the nation in the best traditions so that Bharat becomes Vishwaguru,” Mr Dhankhar said.

“The occasion was graced by former Governor Shyamal Sen, Justice Ruma Pal, barrister Paul and Members of Parliament and distinguished citizens. Felt absence
representation of State inspite of invites,” he said.

“I thank everyone who has spared time to grace this occasion on this momentous day,” the governor added.