Shimla38 minutes agoAuthor: Adhir Rahal
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Virbhadra Singh with Dr. YS Parmar, Producer of Himachal.
- From 1962 to 2017 there has hardly been any such election when opponents have not tried to put them on the sidelines.
- His advice made him such a big leader of Himachal that he went on influencing the politics of the state in his own way for 6 decades.
The journey to Shimla was extraordinary, otherwise many of the charisma get blurred while traveling for six decades or else they are eaten in exhaustion. But Virbhadra Singh’s vitality was that even in the face of adversity, his charisma was always more dazzling and astonishing to anyone.
His advice, which surprised even the biggest opponents, made him such a big leader of Himachal that he went on influencing the politics of the state for 6 decades in his own way. In the last 60 years, Virbhadra Singh has crossed many challenges. There was hardly any election from 1962 to 2017 when opponents did not try to put them on the sidelines.
Virbhadra Singh lay with full gusto, beating the antithesis every time. To understand the meaning of being Virbhadra Singh, one has to go back to the time of 59 years. The very beginning of the political journey of Virbhadra Singh was full of difficulties. Not only the country, but the entire command of the Congress was also with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, but Nehru knew that only youth energy would be needed to take the Congress forward.
At the same time, in the Lok Sabha elections of 1962, the Congress decided to give ticket to Virbhadra Singh from Mahasu Lok Sabha on 23 January 1962, 59 years 5 months 14 days ago. At that time the age of Virbhadra Singh was only 28 years. These former monarchies of Bushahr seat were always surrounded by nackers and khidmatgars in their life.
In his very first election, 28-year-old Virbhadra Singh had the challenge of winning the election from such a constituency, when it was spread over a thousand square kilometers and the length of the roads was not even 500 km. Even then the pedestrian paths of that parliamentary constituency, which was the most inaccessible areas of the country, were so dangerous that every footpath passed through the mouth of Mait.
The beginning of the examinations or habit was started from the first day on which Virbhadra Singh was coming to Himachal to file nominations. Snow used to fall heavily in that area every year. That day also Virbhadra Singh was coming to Shimla by car to file nomination, but the first election campaign was presented.
The snow had fallen so much that day that it was impossible to get in a car like above from Salen-Dharampur. Virbhadra Singh had to leave the jeep and proceed to Shimla by train. The timing of trains coming from Kalka to Shimla is such that every train running from Kalka reaches Shimla by dusk.
The train which reached Shimla at 5 pm reached Rajdhani at 2 pm. Virbhadra Singh had reached the capital to enter the election battle, but the city had received so much snow that Virbhadra Singh could not reach his residence, Halli Lodge.
That night Virbhadra Singh had to stay in a hotel in Malred. (Based on the memoirs told by Late S. Rajen Todaria, the local editor of Dainik Bhaskar Himachal, met before the 2003 election on the way to an election meeting.)
There were challenges in every step
From the very first step in the election, so many challenges came in front of the 26-year-old young man at every step that if someone else with the means and facilities like Virbhadra Singh was contesting the election, instead of wandering on foot in the inaccessible hills and bitter cold for two months, instead of wandering on his own. Used to peep into the election campaign of warlords.
For that first election, for two months, Virbhadra Singh himself campaigned on difficult roads with a height of 10,000 feet. This passion to reach and take risks, even in the most difficult situations, explains the meaning of Virbhadra Singh.
In that short meeting I had with Virbhadra Singh before the 2003 elections, much was talked about that first election in 1962. It was not known then, but today before understanding the vitality and political charisma of Virbhadra Singh, it is necessary to feel the journey of his first election in 1962.
From that point of view, it is very difficult to understand today how difficult it would have been to travel continuously for two consecutive months in the facility zero Mahasu area. Virbhadra Singh’s personality was formed from some such habits.
Pvt. words of gaitam This charismatic personality of Virbhadra Singh was talked about by my teacher at Panjab University and later as Vice Chancellor of Bundelkhand University and then Head of Center for Social Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Late Prof. Satyapal Gaitam had told.
Pvt. Once I wanted to know about the regional leaders with political magic in India. Gaitham was reminded of the German social scientist Max Weber’s analysis of political charisma in which Max Weber says that political charisma does not age very much.
Maintaining political charisma is also difficult because in politics one has to always perform. Then telling Max Weber right, Prof. Gaitham had further added that a politician in power may have many opportunities to perform, but maintaining his charisma while in opposition becomes a challenge.
But at the same place While referring to the four faces Late MG Ramachandran, Late Jyoti Basu, former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Virbhadra Singh in the provinces of the country, Stypal Gaitam said that these four faces can be compared, but the cinema behind MG Ramachandran The legacy of the Akalis was always with the luminaries of Punjab and Parkash Singh Badal.
Journey from 993 to 2012
After the victory of the Congress in 1993, the self at the center. In the government of Narasimha Rao, the election was received from Pandit Sukhram, a very close person, but despite all the efforts of the high command and Sukhram supporters in the state, Virbhadra Singh led the Congress government in the state. In 1998, Virbhadra Singh’s claim of holding assembly elections before the completion of the term of the assembly was backfired by the political ploy of Pandit Sukh Ram.
But between 1998 and 2003, Virbhadra Singh not only fought all the opposition’s challenges by staying in the opposition, but not only did a stormy campaign with some of his supporters among the faction standing in the name of Vidya Stakes’s faction, but also got his supporters to win the MLAs. I looked in full force.
In 2003, Virbhadra Singh proved his sole supremacy within the Congress in front of the opponents by forming the government in the state. The 2012 election was perhaps the toughest, full of challenges and a question of survival for Virbhadra Singh. Viredhi was not satisfied with his sacrifice as a Union minister, but made preparations to eliminate him politically.
Even before the 2012 elections, a lobby of his own party to settle Virbhadra Singh was so active that he sat in the knot of a faction of the BJP to fulfill his purpose. Then any ordinary politician of 77 years of age would have laid down his arms at that time.
Who can forget that on the occasion of 2012 assembly elections, Virbhadra Singh was targeted in the media by highlighting the flaws of the BJP’s tenure which was in power for 5 years.