Vajpayee reflects on Independence

NEW DELHI, June 8: ``There was a time when a politician would not even think of calling up the police to help a criminal in jail. Then came...

NEW DELHI, June 8: “There was a time when a politician would not even think of calling up the police to help a criminal in jail. Then came a time when he would himself go to the prison to see what he could do for the criminal, and now is the time when the police is actually protecting the criminal.”

This was the “three-stage” development of the politician-criminal nexus since India’s Independence, as narrated by former prime minister and Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee, in a TV show aired over Doordarshan titled Hindustan Meri Nazaron Mein (India In My Eyes), hosted by versatile actor Anupam Kher.

Recalling the mood on August 15, 1947, the poetic Vajpayee, who was at the time a journalist in Lucknow, said, “While there was a smile in one eye, there was a tear in the other,” alluding to the fact that though the country was free, it was divided on communal lines.

The show marked the inaugural of the series entitled India 1947-1997, 50 Years of Laughter and Tears, produced by Media Entertainment Company (MEC).One could not help thinking that had our leaders only waited a while, things might have been different, as it was inevitable that the British would leave India sooner or later, the BJP leader remarked.