Lucknow: Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon passed away in the early hours of Tuesday at the age of 85. His son, Ashutosh Tandon, announced his death on Twitter with the message “babuji nahi rahe (my father has passed away)”. Tandon was one of the tallest BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh but, more importantly, he belonged to a generation of politicians that no longer exists.
Tandon kept an open house and never hemmed in himself in political boundaries. His friends were found in every party and he would hold impromptu chat session with them on an almost daily basis.
Journalists, officers, political leaders, businessmen and people from all walks of life could troop in without an appointment and feel welcomed.
Lalji Tandon began his political journey as a member of the Legislative Council, went on to become a minister and then Member of Parliament before he was appointed Governor in Bihar and then Madhya Pradesh.
However, he made sure that he remained connected with the people, irrespective of their caste, class or stature.
His mornings were spent in his ancestral home in Sondhi Tola in Chowk area. Visitors were invariably treated to steaming hot 'jalebis', 'samosas' and 'makkhan malai' -- a local delicacy.
READ:| Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon passes away
His afternoons and evenings were spent in his official bungalow and fritters were served with endless cups of hot tea.
At regular intervals, he would host 'chat' parties and personally attend to the guests amid political banter.
A close friend of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he never flaunted his connections, even though Vajpayee would invariably head to Tandon's home for a meal whenever he was in Lucknow.
Lalji Tandon was moderate when it came to political ideology. Though a committed party worker, he never came to the forefront of the Ram temple movement and steered clear of rabble-rousing that was so typical of the era. It was this posturing that endeared him to opposition leaders.
Journalists found a father figure in him and, often, vented their ire against the governments in his drawing-room. He would simply smile away the blues and veer the conversation to other topics.
With his demise, an era of politics has come to an end in Uttar Pradesh -- an era where views were freely exchanged without rancour and malice, where social interactions rode over political boundaries and where friendships did not depend on class and status.
Inputs from agency
