Sushil Kumar Modi shares anecdote of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee

The Bihar Deputy Chief Minister shared with the media the text of a speech that Vajpayee had delivered while attending his marriage in Patna on April 13, 1986.

BJP members hold candles to pay tribute to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Bengaluru on August 17 2018. (Photo | PTI)

PATNA: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today fondly recalled his association with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sharing an anecdote wherein he was exhorted by the party patriarch to graduate from student activism to mainstream electoral politics.

Away in the national capital to attend the last rites of the former Prime Minister, Sushil shared with the media the text of a speech that Vajpayee had delivered while attending his marriage in Patna on April 13, 1986.

"I have come here with a motive. Sushil is not a student any more and her wife is, in fact, a teacher. He has always been a dedicated worker who has contributed a lot to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Now, if he finds it agreeable, I would like to invite him to enter active politics and lend us a helping hand", Vajpayee, who was one of the founding members of the BJP, had said in his concluding remark.

An active ABVP member since the 1970s when he served as the general secretary of the Patna University Students' Union, Sushil Modi made a successful electoral debut from Patna central (now Kumhrar) assembly segment in 1990.

In his speech, Vajpayee had also showered praise on the young couple for transcending barriers of language, religion and province.

Modi is married to Jessie George, Malayali Christian raised in Mumbai.

"The north and the south have come together here, the bride belongs to Kerala. Pataliputra (the ancient name for Patna) is closer to the Himalayas", Vajpayee had remarked with a poetic flourish.

"Society is shackled by evil customs. Walls are erected between lovers. Those who enter the wedlock by shattering the walls do not get social acceptability. But, this marriage has received the blessings of the entire society. I wish that it sets an example for the future", Vajpayee had said.