ABVP is back in news but for wrong reasons. It is the student wing of Bhartiya Janata Party. During my Delhi University days, I came into its contact and soon became one of the four joint secretaries for Delhi state. The others included acclaimed journalist Ashok turned ( now media advisor to union minister Rajnath Singh) and a former BJP member of Delhi metropolitan council Poornima Kaushik from Kalkaji. Prof Aggarwal of DAV college was Delhi state president. And Raj Kumar Bhatia was its national general secretary. An affable persona with a smiling face. he has a deep resonant voice which command s authority but with a dash of politenessness.I am no more formally associated with it or any other BJP organization but I still cherish fond memories.
I was a B.Sc Maths Hons student of Hans Raj College from 1964 to 70. But with no interest in my subject or classroom teaching. Instead I chose the route of Hindi debating and won 58 inter-college prizes along with my mentor late and lamented Shailendra Mehta. I also learnt the knitty-gritty from Prof Sukhbir Singh who later retired as Dean, Students Wefare in Delhi University. He was jet dark with poked marks on his face. But all that dispappeared once he started to speak. A sweet and compassionate voice. He belonged to SC category but wore it proudly on his sleeves. Unlike today, it was not detested. In fact, once I requested him to take me to his house. I wanted to see how SC people lived. His house was near old Delhi railway station in the bhangi colony. I couldn't believe my eyes at the upkeep of his house. Less sais the better. But I asked for a cup of tea which was served to me in disbelief.
Coming back to ABVP, I was operating from 60A Kamla Nagar first floor room. It was near my rented house 49A. We had meetings, discussions. I was given a freehand to organize events. I invited the then an opposition leader Atal Behari Vaajpayee and accompanied him in a taxi to my college for an event. He was a disarming leader with no airs about his stature. I met and travelled with him across the country half a dozen times courtesy Ashok Tondon.
I remember of two of his quotable quotes during formal and informal discussions. Once I asked him, when I he ws the prime minister, would he like to grace the highest constitutional office, the presidency after quitting as the PM. He emphatically. Never. Main Mukt vihag hoon, mujhe poora aakash chahiye. ( I am a free bird. I need the whole sky to fly). I can appreciate the frustration oozing out of the present incumbent Pranab Mukherjje when he expresses his displeasure on any things happening in the country. But he is bound by the constraints of Constitution.
I floated a subsidiary wing of ABVP named Indo-Foreign Students Bureau. As the name suggests, it was a plateform to associate students of Indian origin who had come from countries like Trinidad, Fiji and Mauritius. I still remember Ramnath Jeeta who lived in Hansraj College hostel. His broken Hindi sounded very sweet. Later he became a minister in his country. When my the then editor Anil Dharkar sent me to Mauritius in 1979, as the bureau chief of Onlooker on a sponsored trip by Mauritius Tourism Organisation, I visited his house. He was not there but a lady with a long veil came out and spstarted speaking to me in French-mixed Bhojpuri (Mauritius was a French colony), I had a culture shock.
I organized many functions under the auspices of IFSB in Delhi university inviting these students to present songs and dance from their country. It was great fun. I also sent these students to Indian families to celebrate festivals like Holi, Diwali etc. The whole idea was the bring them closer to the roots of their ancestors who had migrated from UP and Bihar in 19th and 20th century. When I visited Trinidad in 1995 as a member of the press corpse of the president Shaner Dayal Sharma, I had a firsthand glimpse of the life and society of these countries where citizens of Indian origin had earned a high social and political status.
I interviewed Guyanese president Chhedi Jagan in Rashtrapati Bhawan when he had come here in 1990s and Trinidadian prime minister Basdeo Pandey when he had come to India in 1990. I broached the issue of the desire of Indians to meet their brethren who are settled. His cryptic reply was well they can take a boat and go like their ancestors did. Pandey talked like he head of a sovereign state and not as someone whose ancestors were born here. In fact Jawahar Lal Nehru also had told Indians settled abroad that they shouldn't keep one foot in the country of the adoption and the other in India. Now they should belong to the new home.
While travelling in Port of Spain, I didn't feel that I was in a country which had some kind of special ties with India. In fact the roles played by many Indian envoys by meddling in local politics brought a bad name to India and caused embarrassment to both sides.
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