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COVER
STORY: A.B. VAJPAYEE
How
Fit is He?
As the
prime minister leaves the BJP meet abruptly and shortens his US visit,
his health has become a subject of speculation. Is the government affected?
by Prabhu
Chawla
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Tell
Tale Signs: Vajpayee required help while walking after the Independence
Day speech
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Since
1985, there have been two sacrosanct items on the agenda of bjp National
Council sessions: Vande Mataram at the beginning and end of the meet;
and Atal Bihari Vajpayee's concluding marg darshan. Last week when the
party faithful gathered in Nagpur for Bangaru Laxman's coronation, the
same drill was to be followed. It would be the first occasion on which
Vajpayee would address the National Council since his re-election as prime
minister in 1999-he was forced to skip the Chennai meet last December
because of the hijack drama in Kandahar.
It therefore
came as a surprise to the delegates when, immediately after Laxman's long
presidential address on Sunday morning, BJP General Secretary M. Venkaiah
Naidu announced that the prime minister would speak. There was even greater
surprise when, instead of moving to the podium, Vajpayee chose to speak
sitting down.
In a brief
speech laced with his customary wit, Vajpayee complimented Laxman for
drawing his own Lakshman Rekha, touched on his long association with Nagpur
and his visit to the RSS headquarters in Reshmi Bagh and Babasaheb Ambedkar's
Deeksha Bhumi and requested the session for leave to depart.
As the Indian
Air Force aircraft took off for Delhi, speculation mounted over the prime
minister's health. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pramod Mahajan tried
to allay fears saying that Vajpayee had left on doctor's orders, on account
of recurring arthritic pain in his knees. But the speculation kept mounting
and reached a climax on August 29 when it was announced that Vajpayee
was skipping the Los Angeles and San Francisco leg of his US visit. Fuelled
by the incredible claims of the Janata Party gadfly Subramanian Swamy,
the bush telegraph never stopped buzzing. How ill, everyone asked, is
Vajpayee?
I have been
suffering from arthritis of the knee and this is not uncommon for people
of my age," the 76-year-old prime minister told INDIA TODAY (see
interview). The trouble in Nagpur, added his doctors, arose from over-exertion.
Having landed in Nagpur last Saturday evening after an exhausting meeting
on state finances, Vajpayee first attended the final moments of the BJP
National Executive. Then, after meeting a Vidarbha delegation in Raj Bhavan,
he was off to the house of his close friend and Law Commission member
N.M. (Appa) Ghatate. There, he climbed stairs-a painful exercise for an
arthritis patient-to see the children's centre set up by the Ghatates,
following which he stayed on for dinner.
It was hot
and humid in Nagpur and the weather and exhaustion took a collective toll
the next day. He visited the RSS headquarters to meet his old guru Narayana
Rao and climbed stairs at the Ambedkar memorial. Then, while listening
to Laxman's presidential address, in a slightly claustrophobic environment,
his knee pain resurfaced.
Returning
to Delhi, he was examined thoroughly by doctors. They found no ailment
other than osteoarthritis. His heart and kidney were functioning normally
and his nervous system and reflexes didn't show any degeneration.
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