As the mortal remains of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee lay in state at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg on Friday, thousands of people gathered outside to pay their respects.
Supporters and fans of the late PM started queuing up early in the morning hoping to pay floral tributes. The going was not easy for them as they had to wait in the heat as the cortège reached only at 11 a.m., leaving a two-hour window for them to get past security and enter the building.
‘Atal Bihari amar rahe ’
The wait grew longer as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath and several other party dignitaries paid tributes first. But the spirit of the crowd outside never waned. Some even resorted to jumping over the gate to enter the compound as chants of “Atal Bihari amar rahe ” rang through the air.
The gayatri mantra , playing on a loop, was punctuated by a recording of a few verses from the Bhagwad Gita. Singing along and occasionally sitting down to meditate, Pradeep Jamwal an octogenarian said: “I am very weak and my children are angry with me for coming here in this heat and crowd. But I am a fan of Atal ji , not only as a politician but also as a writer and a poet. I like to write poetry and have a collection of his poems at home.”
The over two-hour-long wait got people discussing about the former Prime Minister and some managed to recall and recite lines from his speeches.
“Governments will come and go. Parties will be made and unmade. This country should survive, its democracy should survive,” quoted Anil Agarwal from Rohini. “Mr. Vajpayee was an outstanding PM. It is he who made India a nuclear power... and respected across the world,” he said.
While comparisons with Mr. Modi’s style of functioning were done in hushed tones, people appreciated the style of politics Mr. Vajpayee had stood for.
Kishan Pandey from Sangam Vihar said he has come to pay his respects to the former PM as “politicians of his class are a rare these days”. “Even today, I look for his speeches on the Internet and listen to them because he was such a good orator,” said Mr. Pandey.
Some fainted
The pushing and shoving to get into the hall, combined with heat and humidity, did end up taking a toll on a few people. A few fainted while standing in queue.
Inside the hall, as people passed by the body, volunteers kept whispering to people not to take photos and maintain decorum.
But in the excitement, some could not help but pull out their phones and take a quick picture. Out of the thousands who had come to pay respect to the former PM, only a few lucky ones made it to the hall and were able to catch a glimpse of the mortal remains of the gentleman politician.
