The transition of power after Jawaharlal Nehru’s death on May 27, 1964, was momentous. This was possible as those who led the process were egoless leaders

The crisis India faced on May 27, 1964, was unprecedented.

PREMIUMAtal Bihari Vajpayee, then in the Rajya Sabha, said with Nehru gone “The sun has set; we will now have to find our way about with the aid of starlight”. An effulgent orb sun had indeed set but the night that followed gave us the starlight of duty to guide us through the dark (HT photo)

Jawaharlal Nehru, our prime minister (PM), had been unwell since January of that year, after a stroke in Bhubaneswar, where he was attending a Congress session. And all who saw him during the intervening months found him unwell. Harivansh Rai Bachchan, the great Hindi poet — a translation into English of whose masterpiece, Madhushala, Nehru contributed a memorable foreword to — noticed something unusual: On the dew-laden lawn of his home at Teen Murti, New Delhi, Nehru’s walking feet left two impressions. One foot left the marks of feet, each separate from the other. The other foot drew a line, as it dragged itself.