To evade marriage, Atal Bihari Vajpayee locked himself up for 3 days

KANPUR: Atal Bihari Vajpayee could remain a bachelor because of his “unwavering resolve”, which he showed by locking himself up in a friend’s house for three days when he came to know that his parents were looking for a match for him, Vijay Prakash, son of his friend late Gorey Lal Tripathi, told TOI on Friday.

During the mid-1940s, when Vajpayee was a PG student at Kanpur’s DAV College, he escaped to Tripathi’s house in Raipur village in Patara block of the district, when he learned that his parents were planning his marriage. The two had become friends while attending RSS shakha.

“My father used to tell us that Atalji had locked himself in the room meant for guests. He didn’t come out for three days. Atalji had asked my father to lock the room from outside. He would knock at the door from inside when he needed water or food or to go to toilet,” Vijay says.

When friend Gorey Lal asked him why he was running away from wedding, Vajpayee told him that he wanted to dedicate his life to the nation and marriage would create hurdles. That was when Atal was getting closer to the RSS.

Vijay Prakash says his father would often recount this episode of his dear friend’s life.
Vajpayee remembered his friend’s family even after becoming a national political leader, he says. “I met him in 1989 in Lucknow when he was leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. I requested him to help me get a job. Though he didn’t promise anything, it was due to his efforts that I could get a job in a Kanpurbased magazine,” he says.

Vijay says Vajpayee always had a lot of affection for the people of Kanpur. “He made it a point to attend weddings and other private functions of his old acquaintances,” he says.