'Politics is being done for politics'

Former prime minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday said the future of party politics in India held no promise as it had 'alienated' the people.

Without singling out opponents, the 82-year-old National Democratic Alliance chairman said political parties in general have cut themselves off from the people.

"But politics that alienates the people from itself cannot survive for long. It can influence but cannot run society," Vajpayee said at the launch of his book Rajneeti Ke Uss Paar (on the other side of politics), a collection of his more than a dozen speeches.

The BJP veteran, whose party itself faces allegations of sidelining its mass leaders, also observed that politics has lost out on addressing social issues.

"Politics is being done for politics," he remarked.

The former prime minister also saw little acceptability for the title of his book compiling what publishers say are his non-political speeches.

"People now do not expect anything non-political from a politician. Also, it is a coincidence that we all (who are sitting at the podium) during the release of this book are political people. Anyway, we can be on one or the other side of politics, but we should not be drifting rudderlessly," he said.

Vajpayee, whose party colleague Jaswant Singh had triggered a month-long row for his mole theory in his book A Call to Honour, joked that he feared the collection of his own speeches too could create another controversy.

"You never know, somebody, somewhere, sometime may give it a different, awfully wrong interpretation," he said.

In his survival tip to political parties, the former prime minister told them to 're-transform'

themselves to groupings espousing social cause.

"Political parties should re-transform... and adopt a social colour. There is a greater need now than ever before in politics for social responsibility," Vajpayee said.

In his address at the book launch, senior BJP leader L K Advani also made a frank admission that Vajpayee did give him complex with his oratorial skills. He credited the former prime minister with speeches that he said offered a food for thought to the listeners.

"It is not just the style, but solemnity of thought that would leave an impeccable impact on the listeners," he remarked.

The former BJP chief also recalled watching movies in Delhi theatres with Vajpayee, citing in particular film -- Phir Subah Hogi – that both saw decades ago immediately after losing a municipal by-election in the capital.

In his address, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who released the book, rated Vajpayee's speech during the 1998 no-trust vote, which he lost, as the best. "His remarks that he would resign to return inspired immense confidence in workers," Shekhawat said.

He praised not only Vajpayee's oratorial skills but also what he called his body language that he said would leave greater impact on the audience.

"These speeches (in the book) are also a lesson on politics," Shekhawat remarked.

The paperback, priced at Rs 150, carries a preface by slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan in which he praises Vajpayee as a speaker capable of impressing the general public and Parliament alike with his oratorial skills.