Auckland’s Indian community paid rich tributes to the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in a condolence ceremony held at the Mahatma Gandhi centre on Friday, August 24.
The event was organised by Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janta Party New Zealand (OFBJPNZ) and the Consulate of India provided with an official condolence book to give members of public a chance to express their tributes and condolence messages to the revered leader.
About 200 members of the public attended the event, which included ceremonial music, offerings of prayers, the signing of tribute messages, key addresses by several dignitaries attending the event.
Among dignitaries present at the event were National Party MPs Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Parmjeet Parmar, former MP Mahesh Bindra, Hon. Consul of India Bhav Dhillon, Bhikhu Bhana, President, New Zealand Indian Central Association, Narendra Bhana, President, Auckland Indian Association.
Dev Bhardwaj of OFBJPNZ, who was one of the lead organisers of the event, expressed satisfaction with the turnout at the event at such short notice.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender, Mr Bhardwaj said, “We are thankful to all members of the community who turned out on such short notice to pay their tributes to our beloved leader.
“Our special thanks to Narendra Bhana, President, Auckland Indian Association, for providing us with the venue of Mahatma Gandhi Centre for the event,” Mr Bharadwaj said.
Mr Vajpayee, who died at the age of 93 on Thursday, August 16, after being seriously ill for the past two months and admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, was three-time Prime Minister of India, most significantly from 1998 to 2004.
Among other things, Mr Vajpayee is considered a doyen of India’s second generation economic reforms and making India an overt nuclear power – a bold strategic move, which experts agree, went way long way in transforming India’s international standing.
It is noteworthy that India has long demonstrated nuclear capability in the mid-1970s but has since then stopped short of declaring itself overtly atomic power.
Mr Vajpayee led the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 1999, which took the bold move of going overtly nuclear – a step which initially brought sharp international criticism – however, subsequently forced significant powers to sit-up and start taking India as a serious and responsible power in world politics
The period ensuing India’s second nuclear explosion witnessed energetic and innovative diplomacy from New Delhi, resulting in a series of talks between New Delhi and Washington, which finally culminated in the signing of historic India – United States Civil Nuclear Agreement – an agreement which marked the end of India’s nuclear apartheid.
The credit for the world accepting India’s desperate dependency on nuclear power, owing to its precarious security-environment and acute energy needs, surely goes to the leadership of Prime Minister Vajpayee.
Similarly, Mr Vajpayee is also credited for not only allowing India to continue on the path of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, despite conservative views in some quarters of its own party and parent organisation but also unleashing energetic reforms which are popularly called as the "second generation of economic reforms".
The second generation of economic reforms introduced under his visionary leadership had significantly contributed to a facilitative investment climate, which in turn promoted India's rapid growth during the turn of the twenty-first century.
Mr Vajpayee is remembered for various policy actions that led to rapid growth in telecom, power, financial sector, insurance, agriculture, education and national highways that contributed hugely to unlocking the nation's economic potential.
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