ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE & HIS

MODEL OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

Dr. Vivek Kumar Mishra

Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was undoubtedly one of the most prominent and widely accepted leaders of our country who breathed his last on August 16th, 2018. An outstanding orator, born on 25th December 1924 in Gwalior, he saw India grow to new heights in his own life time. He earned the reverence of one and all because of his outstanding skills in the field of politics, prose and poetry.

The world has produced many tall leaders who got respect from the society, but very few received respect even from their critics, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of them. Vajpayee ji served as Prime Minister of India three times, once only for 13 days in 1996, and again for 11 months in 1998, thereafter he served one full term, during 1999-2004. Atal Ji served as a Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha for ten times and elected to Rajya Sabha twice in his political career. He created history by becoming the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India to serve a full-term. He was conferred India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna in 2015.

Atal Ji was a devoted 'swayamsevak' of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a unique social organization dedicated to India's resurgence.  Regarding his association with RSS, Atal ji once prominently said in the United States that "he may not be the Prime Minister tomorrow, but nobody could take away his right of being a swayamsevak." He wrote about the RSS, "the RSS does not change only individuals, rather it changes the collective mind. This is the beauty of the RSS ethos. In our spiritual tradition an individual can attain great heights." He was a firm believer of Hindutva ideology. He was founding father of Bhartiya Janata Party. He imbibed his values and strong traditions of national service from Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay. As a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,  Atal Bihari Vajpayee was already politically active by the age of 16. In 1951, he started working for Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a political wing of RSS.

Good Governance Day

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a leader who laid the found-ation of good governance by linking politics to values and Indian traditions. Atal ji's, 90th birthday was declared as 'Good Governance Day' by present Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2014. Prime Minister Modi decided to follow the path of Vajpayee ji through commitment towards providing transparent, effective and accountable governance to the people of India. I feel it is a great honour for the people of India to celebrate good governance day annually on the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji.

Good Governance means a government based on development orientation, transparency and early and easy deliverance of services. Prime Minister Modi stated that "Good governance day on the birthday of our beloved leader, Atal  Bihari Vajpayee, we reiterate our commitment towards providing transparent, effective and accountable governance to the people of this country." He also stated that "during his tenure, Atal  ji's efficiency in dealing with various issues has proven very beneficial for nation." That is why Prime Minister Modi has taken the decision to have his birthday celebrated as 'Good Governance Day'.

The purpose for observing Atal ji birthday as Good Governance Day is as under:

. Building transparent and responsible administration.

.      Ensuring the welfare of common man

.      Devising good and effective policies for good governance

.     To give a corruption free administration to the people

.     To make people aware about the government commitment for providing

a transparent and  account-able administration in the country

.    To enhance the growth and development in the country.

.   To bring citizens closer to the government to make them active participants in the governance process.

Atal  Bihari Vajpaayee strived for all above mentioned purposes through-out his tenure as Prime Minister. Observing a Good Governance Day at his birthday will be testimony of his lifelong service. Moreover, observing Good Governance Day will continuously remind of the Indian government that the ruling party should be impartial, development oriented and development should cover all the sectors of the society for whom Vajpayee devoted his life.

Vajpayee on Economic Governance

During his tenure, Vajpayee ji gave prominence to programmes aimed at the country's development, rather than serving petty political interests. The basic idea of good governance was put forwarded by Vajpayee in his address at Asia Society in New York on September 7, 2000. He stated that "empowering the individual means empowering the nation, and empowerment is best served through rapid economic growth with rapid social change." Indeed, these words reflected in his contribution towards the country. He not only improved the economy of India but also introduced several social reforms to uplift the unprivileged section of the society. During Vajpayee Government, India experienced one of its fastest periods of economic growth. India became an emerging power in Information Technology due to the reform programmes executed under his able and visionary guidance. Vajpayee ji's firmly believed that every region, every community and every citizen of our country should enjoy the fruits of India's prosperity and progress. He launched the Antyodaya Anna scheme to provide cheaper subsidized food grains to the poor, and expressed his commitment to the common man.

Atal ji's most memorable achievement was the ambitious roads projects he launched - the 'Golden Quadrilateral' and the 'Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojana.' The Golden Quadrilateral connected Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai through a network of highways while the Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojana was planned as a network of all-weather roads for unconnected village. Golden Quadrilateral was completed within a period of 5 years. The road construction reached 11 km of highways per day.  The "Delhi Metro" project was launched by Vajpayee ji  in 2002.

Vajpayee ji took India to the new heights by introducing economic reforms. Under his tenure from 1998 to 2004, India maintained a GDP rate of eight per cent, the inflation level within four per cent and foreign exchange reserves were flourishing. Atal ji's commitment to reducing the government role in running businesses and industry was reflected in his commitment to reducing the government role in running businesses and industry was reflected in the formation of a separate disinvestment ministry. The most important disinvestments were Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) and Hindustan Zinc, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited and VSNL. The Vajpayee government made another radical reform by introducing the Fiscal Responsibility Act that aimed to bring down fiscal deficit.

Vajpayee on Telecom Revolution

Vajpayee government's 'New Telecom Policy' unleashed the telecom revolution in India by replacing fixed license fees for telecom firms with a revenue-sharing arrange-ment. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) was created to separate policy formulation and provision of service. The creation of the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal also separated the government's regulatory and dispute settlement roles. The government ended the monopoly of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's on international telephony. Prime Minister Vajpayee stressed on telephonic and internet connectivity in the nation. It was Atal Ji who prepared the foundations of an India that is ready to take on the mantle of global leadership in the 21st century. "Economic reforms and development planning are without meaning if the poor and marginalised are not enabled to better their lives. This calls for action on many fronts. A jungle of laws, in particular municipal, police, and forest laws, many of which have not been reformed since many decades, render numerous legitimate occupations of the poor illegal. While microfinance modes of lending have been shown to be fully viable, the commercial banking system has yet to mainstream microfinance lending to the poor. The Small Scale Industry (SSI) Sector, which has unequalled employment potential, faces a number of challenges, including availability of credit, technical and marketing support, and realising its comparative advantage in the context of globalisation. These are some of the directions in which serious-reform is necessary.

"The futuristic economic policies and reforms of his Government ensured prosperity for several Indians. His thrust on next-generation infrastructure particularly roads and telecom contributed to our country's economic as well as social empowerment.

Vajpayee as a Dedicated Democrat

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a dedicated democrat who governed by the rules of democracy and allowed its institutions to play their role, too. Addressing the nation after the National Democratic Alliance's defeat in 2004, he said, "my party and alliance may have lost but India and India's democracy have won." That is an appropriate epitaph to be inscribed on a memorial to a true democrat.  As a Prime Minister, he demonstrated that it was not strong government that India needed but good governance- governance by the rules of democracy.

Vajpayee model of Governance can be described as a government that changed India's economic and political scenario. The greatness of his leadership was always nation centric and focused on the welfare of the people. Vajpayee Ji had set a role model for good governance. It was always participatory, consensus oriented, trans-parent, responsive, effective and efficient. It was also equitable and inclusive and followed the rules of law. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society.

Vajpayee's unquenchable patriotism and love for his motherland are the stuff that spawns legends. He wears Bhartiyata on his sleeve, and proclaims proudly to the world that he is the inheritor of a great ancient civilization.  Bhartiya vision of thinking is based on the tradition of Vedas, saints and sages who have given India, the spiritual sustenance and cultural moorings that anchor its existence. Vajpayee ji has indeed shown his character to be one of totally transparent integrity. His principles universally acknowledged to be based in equity and justice. His sense of judgment affirms itself in his willingness to sacrifice power for the sake of ethics.

Vajpayee ji was firm in his political beliefs, but always accommodated and respected of other points of view, he set the standards of debate in Parliament. In his simplicity and integrity, in his dignity and empathy, and a sense of personal non-attachment to the office, he became an inspiration for youths.

Other key Milestones in Atal Ji Political Journey

.    Atal Bihari Vajpayee became a Union Minister in 1977 when Morarji Desai-led Janata Party coalition came to power for the first time. He became the Minister of External Affairs. As Foreign Minister, Vajpayee became the first person to deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in Hindi.

.    The efforts of Atal ji ensured India to become a nuclear weapon state and he attributed the Pokhran tests of 11th May 1998. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji established India pride and changed India's place in the world.

.      Atal ji passed the Chandrayan-1 project on India's 56th Independence Day. This gave a major thrust to Indian space mission.  Vajpayee ji stated, "Our country is now ready to fly high in the field of science. I am pleased to announce that India will send her own spacecraft to the moon by 2008. It is being named Chandrayaan.

Prime Minister Modi on Good Governance

Like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, present Prime Minister Narendra Modi also started his career as a RSS activist. It is a great virtue of Indian democracy that both become Prime Ministers of this country. Both come from same background and same ideology. Prime Minister Modi undertook carrying forward Vajpayee's legacy. Like Vajpayee ji, Modi believes in democracy, those who govern are not rulers, they are servants. He calls himself the people's "pradhan sewak", not "pradhan mantri". Like Vajpayee, for Modi, "good governance is putting people at the centre of development", but corruption and black money have become impediments to good governance. They have exploited the citizen's rights. Hence, Modi has declared a war on these issues through various measures like demonetization.

Good governance rests on the responsibility of government to meet the needs of the people. Even the most vulnerable sections of society should have an equal stake in charting the country's growth. It's about transparency, efficiency and responsiveness- it's about a clean government, free of corruption. An important step for Good Governance is simplification of procedures and processes in the Government so as to make the entire system transparent and faster. In this regard Prime Minister Modi has taken various initiatives like Digital India, MyGov.in, Jeevan Pramaan, e-Bhasha, e-Sampark, e-Greetings, GST and implemented others policy initiatives which have been recently undertaken by the Modi Government to further the cause of Good Governance in the country. The core idea behind the launch of any such initiative is that technology should be used as a tool to bridge the gap between the government and the citizens. The Digital India programme aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Digital India is transform-ational in nature and would ensure that Government services are available to citizens electronically.

Good governance means improving the performance of public enterprises by giving them managerial autonomy to take decisions on commercial principles. In this context like Vajpayee ji, Prime Minister Modi mentioned about the turn-around in the performance of public airlines, Air India, and public telecom, Bharat Sanchar Nigam limited and Shipping Corporation of India. Similarly, for Indian Post offices that has become irrelevant due to the spread of information technology especially social media. The Government is taking steps to convert post offices into payment banks.

As part of good governance, Prime Minister Modi outlined linking the Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts with Aadhar cards. Direct benefits transfer, digital or electronic payments, heading towards a less cash system, is all part of good governance. The idea is to root out corruption by middlemen and facilitate convenient payments and receipts. Prime Minister Modi has expanded the good governance path laid out by Vajpayee.

Conclusion

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji was a supporter of Hindutva and a man of values and ethos, who decried the divisive ideology of sections of politicians. He had a vision for the country and sought its rightful place in the comity of nations. Vajpayee ji was a great statesman, great leader, the like which India has not seen in recent years. And he was a great Prime Minister and truly the voice of India, the voice, which was rational, reasonable, and full of humour and a voice which did not hurt anyone. Finally,

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a man who gave real power to Bharat, a mind which made fearless decisions, a character which showcases the meaning of patriotism.

(The author is Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science and International Relations in Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He can be reached at mishrajnu@gmail.com)