The Hindu Business Line : Sorry to see him go

AMONG the Indian voters who were happy to see the BJP's exit from Delhi is my sister-in-law who lives in Ahmedabad, where she shifted from Chennai after her marriage some 30 years ago. She had reason to be happy. During the post-Godhra riots, she and her family had to flee from their apartment in Paldi, a predominantly Hindu area where they had shifted a few years earlier after selling their house in Kalupur, a secure bastion for Ahmedabad's Muslims. As happens in this Gujarat city, all the apartments in the building were owned by Muslims — you don't have Hindus and Muslims living in the same building in Gujarat anymore, unless it is government or company accommodation. While three of the other flats were looted and burnt, attempts to force open her flat had failed and it escaped the worst.

During the two months she lived away from her home, as a refugee at a friend's place, each day she would sneak into her flat like a thief, retrieve whatever she could and flee the place. She and her family have since then returned home, but live in perpetual fear of another riot. They cannot sell the flat; no Hindu will buy it because it is a "Muslim" building and no Muslim will come into a Hindu area. Some of their neighbours have locked their flats and shifted to "Muslim" areas. Those with no alternative are hanging on.

Anyway, to return to the election verdict, more than the NDA's exit from Delhi, she was elated at Gujarat rejecting Narendra Modi from as many as 12 Lok Sabha constituencies. "But I'm sorry to see Vajpayee go. He was such a decent man, he didn't deserve to be punished," she said in a choked voice.

Now, this is the kind of tribute that the charming old man of Indian politics and one of the ablest and endearing prime ministers of India can get from one of the traumatised Muslims of Gujarat.

It is thanks to the BJP's spin doctors who insisted on singing the `India Shining' tune by showcasing the glitter of the rich and the powerful, while sweeping under the carpet the tears and relentless toil of the marginalised sections that Vajpayee has been denied his rightful moment in history and the opportunity to finish certain undone tasks. The BJP's strategists who did such a wonderful job in winning for the party in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh last year, goofed up in even properly projecting the NDA Prime Minister's solid achievements.

Take for instance, the peace process with Pakistan. Undeterred by his bus journey to Lahore that was rewarded with a Kargil, Vajpayee did not give up. The Agra Summit failed, thanks to the machinations of the hawks in the BJP, but Vajpayee sprung another surprise by extending yet another hand of friendship to Pakistan during his famous visit to Kashmir. The SAARC Summit in Islamabad was a big hit, thanks again to the Indian Prime Minister, because for all practical purposes it was more an Indo-Pak meeting that was being watched by the entire world as the SAARC agenda took a backseat. It was again Vajpayee who saw to it that the cricket series between India and Pakistan was not scuttled as some of his colleagues in the BJP would have loved to see. What a roaring success it was and the amount of goodwill it generated between ordinary Indians and Pakistanis, removing their suspicions for each other, is history now.

But the problem came in the BJP touting Vajpayee's Indo-Pak peace initiative as a kind of lollipop for Indian Muslims. As they tried to hunt for Muslim votes the BJP leaders' argument was: Look we're improving our relations with Pakistan, so you'd better vote for us. As though peace with a neighbour like Pakistan was desirable only for the Muslims and not the entire country. That was something that really angered Muslims.

But, of course, the Indian Muslim's greatest disenchantment with the BJP was the post-Godhra carnage. As it became evident that Vajpayee strongly disapproved of the Modi Government's handling of the whole affair, their respect for Vajpayee increased. Till he allowed the hardliners and Modi's friends in the Sangh Parivar to put a sudden brake on his chastisement of Modi. The last straw on the camel's back was the prime minister being accompanied by Modi when he visited the riot victims in the Shah Alam camp and elsewhere in Ahmedabad.

But such is the charisma of the man that there are many Muslims in Gujarat who will be sorry to see Vajpayee go, even as they rejoice at Modi's arrogance getting a jolt from the Gujarat verdict. It is a pity that the man who went all out to resolve the Kashmir imbroglio and make peace with Pakistan will not be at the helm when that magic moment finally comes.

Unfortunately neither magnanimity nor innovative ideas dominate our political affairs. It might sound odd or downright stupid... but why can't the man who as India's Foreign Minister way back in the 1970s worked for amity with Pakistan and came on the verge of having a breakthrough in improving Indo-Pak ties during his tenure as prime minister be given a key role in continuing that work?

Devoid of the headache of running a 24-party coalition government, he would certainly be able to apply better both his heart and mind to the job.

If a young Rahul Gandhi, during his moment of jubilation in Amethi could speak with so much respect about Vajpayee, why can't the Congress-led government too extend this sentiment?

But would Vajpayee take on such a task? Well, he did say after losing this election, "We have given up office but not our responsibility to serve the nation. We have lost an election, but not our determination."

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in