Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who died aged 93 on Thursday, has had a political career that began with the Quit India movement in 1942 when he was just 18 years old.
However, it was only 11 years later in 1953 that he contested his first election. According to Yashwant Deskhmukh, whose father, social activist Yadav Rao Deshmukh, worked closely with Vajpayee, he lost a 1953 bye election, which also happened to be his first in Lucknow. The election took place after Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit resigned as Lucknow MP to join the United Nations General Assembly.
“I know this fact for sure because of many personal anecdotes on that particular 1953 election told to me personally by Baba as well as the man himself. 1957 was the first election that Atalji won to become Lok Sabha MP but 1953 was the first he contested,” he tweeted.
There are a number of anecdotes that have come out of that 1953 election. “My favourite one was the one related to how he reacted to that defeat. I almost fell off the chair laughing when Baba narrated that incident in 1984 to me, when the glorious results of just 2 seats stared on their faces. It still brings smile on my face. It was actually a conversation on that particular evening in 1953 when result was declared. Atal ji not only lost, he was actually at number 3 place in final results,” Deshmukh added in the Twitter thread.
The conversation between two youngsters went something like this:
“And thus on that fateful evening in 1953 they cycled to cinema hall,” Deshmukh recalled. To conclude, he said that he hoped that the two of them would watch it in heaven. "If I remember it correctly, was is “Baiju Baawaraa”?? So Baba, please ask Chitragupt ji to arrange a special screening up there tonight. Last time it was after the first defeat for you guys, This time watch it together, after the ultimate victory. No need to argue on cycle."
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