‘Manmohan returned my call past 11 pm, he praised my work, said he will carry it forward’

Days before he officially steps down as Prime Minister, Vajpayee’s mood is sombre, melancholic. Breaking his public silence on his shock defeat, he tells The Indian Express: ‘‘Kuch tajjub to hua ki kya ho gaya yeh (I was somewhat amazed, as to how did all this happen) We were expecting 30 in UP, we were banking on it to take our tally up.’’

Now that the results have sunk in, he’s looking forward.

After the swearing-in, he says, possibly this week, he has decided to move for a few days to his cottage in Manali. An ex-Prime Minister will then play the poet away from the heat—not many in his party would have that luxury.

Asked by The Indian Express if he had written a poem for this occasion, for these circumstances, he thinks hard. After a pause longer than his usual one, he recites a para:

Do din mile udhaar mein,
Ghate ke vyapaar mein,
Kshan-kshan ka hisaab joroon ya punji sesh lootaoon mai?
Rah kaun si jaaoon mai?

(Two days, on loan, is all I’ve earned
In a bargain already lost:
Do I take stock of each moment or do I squander what little remains?
What road should I go down?)

The only thing he is sure of the road ahead, Vajpayee says, is the unfinished task behind him. ‘‘Bahut kaam karne theh. Ab adhoore reh gaye. (There was a lot of work to be done. It now remains incomplete).’’

The poet then slips into the Prime Minister. Vajpayee cites the ambitious project the NDA Government had launched for the interlinking of rivers with canals, still in its drawing-board stage.

‘‘Work on the project could have gone on faster but some state governments went on having discussions. This single project could help resolve the country’s water problems and be a boon for irrigation,’’ he says.

He adds that a member of the inter-linking task force had come to see him two days ago wondering whether the project would ever take off with the Government changing at the Centre.

Another unfinished agenda, of course, is Kashmir. His landmark dialogue initiative with the Hurriyat has just seen two rounds so far. ‘‘Usmein to bahut samay lage ga. Abhi kuch bhi nahin hua (That will take a lot of time. Very little has been done so far).’’

Bring him to the current and he is more cautious. Mention Sonia Gandhi and he says he would rather not comment. On Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, he opens up, calling his press conference today a ‘‘positive beginning’’ for the new government.

‘‘I wish Dr Manmohan Singh well. He’s a learned, practical man who understands the problems of the country very well,’’ Vajpayee says. ‘‘And he’s very loyal to the tasks he takes up. I have noticed in him a trait of getting after a job once it’s been given to him without thinking of any selfish gains.’’

He recalls that while Singh hasn’t been in Parliament long enough, he has worked with him on several committees and is familiar with his work. He singles out a report Singh had written on the economic agenda for Commonwealth countries when he was Finance Minister in P V Narasimha Rao’s Cabinet.

That was over a decade ago but it’s in recalling an anecdote from last night that you can catch a hint of delight in Vajpayee’s voice. ‘‘When I called to congratulate on the phone, he was not at home. I was wondering whether he would call back but he did though it was well past 11 pm.’’

‘‘We had a long conversation,’’ says Vajpayee. ‘‘He (Dr Manmohan Singh) kept praising all the work we had done and the projects we had begun. He said he would carry on the work and mentioned the Golden Quadrilateral project as one such project. He also said he would call on me soon.’’