 |
| (Anchor interviewing Acharya Satya Prakash on News Nation ) |
We were both together in Delhi University from 1970 to 1974. He was DUSU (Delhi University Students Union) president during that period. We were ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) leaders.
To be honest, he was Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan of our students' political landscape then, who emerged as a young firebrand fearless leader in the face of ruthless emergency of Indira Gandhi ...
Later on in life, he went on joining politics ultimately rising to be a Union Cabinet minister in Bharatiya Janata Party government at centre in New Delhi, both under Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi. In fact, he was defacto the NUMBER TWO in the government, with him being the MOST TRUSTWORTHY lieutenants of Narendra Modi , the Indian Prime Minister...
While I went on joining a central government job in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). I was deputy Commandant in CISF when I shifted and joined Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) as a Manager. I proudly served as president of GAIL Officers' Association for 9 years.
We remained in touch with each other throughout our life, though later our interaction reduced due to our preoccupation with our work and special circumstances of life.
Having seen and worked with him personally from quite close quarters, I can say with full authority that he was THE FINEST OF THE FINEST RARE GENTLEMEN who have graced our beautiful Earth...
As a student, he was always a jolly and friendly guy with whom everyone wanted to be friend. He was polite and always helpful.
The only drawback that I could see in him was that he often lived in lofty ivory towers far removed from ground realities which cost him dearly in his later political life. For example, he lost Loksabha election from Amritsar in 2014 owing to his this major weakness, as he couldn't understand groundswell of hatred against Akalis in Punjab...
To be fully fair and honest, I must admit that I never took any undue political advantage of my close personal proximity with him...
Despite differences in our political orientation later on in life, we remained BEST OF THE BEST FRIENDS...
On his untimely demise, we all friends of Delhi University (DU) days were very sad. It was beyond our understanding why God had snatched our best friends from us so early...
We DU days' friends gathered and mourned death of our sterling friend together, in and outside BJP office in Delhi and paid our heart-felt condolences...
We all friends had just one sincere prayer on our lips,"...Bhagwan unki Aatma Ko Shanti pradaan Kare (May almighty give peace to his soul)...!"
I expressed my deep intimate feelings for Arun Jaitley, my best friend, during shardhanjli at BJP office in Delhi in an interview with News Nation on the day he was to be cremated.
- Acharya Satya Prakash
Comments