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By Aishwarya Paliwal: The man whose political career lasted 50 years, his speeches made even ardent critics emotional and the man who initially was against the Ram Temple Movement, was Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
An ideologue, who was affiliated with the sang, believed that Hindutva was the only genuine model of secularism. He was ready to adapt to the changing world.
The book ‘The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924-1977’ by Abhishek Choudhary, showcases how Atal Bihari Vajpayee incorporated changes in his life.
Speaking to India Today, Abhishek Choudhary said, “He came from a different background, a repressed background and had very different notions about life while he was in Lucknow.”
“What is commendable about Vajpayee is the fact that he adapted and changed when he came to Delhi. His horizon broadened and while his core was always that of RSS, he was willing to change with changing times.”
Vajpayee grew into a mature parliamentarian and a politician who earned praises across party lines, his views on Gandhi also seem to have evolved.
Elaborating on how Atal Bihari Vajpayee evolved over time, Abhishek Choudhary said, “The earlier avatar of Vajpayee was that of an ideologue, a conservative man, but his travels changed him. Let me explain this with an interesting example – The first time Vajpayee went to the United States, he stayed there for two months.”
“He used to write articles from the US and staying in the United States really broadened his horizon.”
“Though he knew his roots and was clear when it came to his ideology, he changed his views on Nehru and Gandhi over the course of time.”
In a newspaper essay in 1947, Vajpayee wrote, “World War I fuelled the Pan-Islamist ambitions of Indian Muslims. Around this time, Gandhiji, along with the Ali brothers, frequently invited the Afghans to invade India. But fortunately, the Gandhi-Muslim conspiracy got noticed and thus, 30 years ago, that disgusting attempt to convert India into Pakistan was thwarted.”
According to the book –
During Gandhi’s fast-unto-death in January 1948, the Panchjanya, in which Vajpayee had a key editorial role by then, remained critical of the event.
However, over the years, Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to acknowledge the work done by Mahatma Gandhi. While inaugurating a street named after the Mahatma in 2002, Vajpayee said Gandhi’s teachings continued to be relevant in the 21st century.
“Throughout his life, Gandhi preached and practiced mutual tolerance and understanding among people belonging to all the religions of the world. In this, he echoed the age-old conviction of India’s civilisation that truth is one, the wise only interpret it differently.”
The book suggests that Vajpayee, who was 18 when the Quit India movement was launched by Gandhi in 1942, wasn’t entirely convinced of its effectiveness.
“Whereas the second world war was a time to strengthen ourselves militarily, the opportunity was wasted on individual satyagraha which ended, as always, with sitting purposelessly in the jail.”
As a young Member of Parliament in 1957, Vajpayee attacked Nehru on foreign policy and especially his engagement with China.
“One face reflects Churchill, who brought victory to Britain; the other reflects Chamberlain, who encouraged Hitler with his appeasement. I am sorry to say, but we have, standing before us, a man who exhibits a peculiar divided personality,” he said as he attacked Nehru.
COMMITMENT FOR SANGH DID NOT DAMPEN VAJPAYEE’s FLEXIBILITY
The book relies on his writings in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) mouthpiece Panchjanya, among other publications.
Such was Vajpayee’s devotion to the Sang that on his 25th birthday, he was overworked and skeptical about the world.
He stayed at the Bharat Press, a building that had houses resembling “10 x 15 [feet] Bombay chawls, a mile away from the office”.
It was in August 1950, that Atal Bihari Vajpayee moved to Delhi to Swadesh – a daily newspaper launched the previous year.
Being assigned the responsibility to run a daily was a promotion for him.
The logistics of gathering and printing news with shoddy infrastructure (broken chairs, no telephone) and limited staff meant longer hours spent slogging – in Atal’s case, not least because he wrote an op-ed every day. A colleague would later describe his life in Lucknow thus.
His steadfast commitment shone through as many days he was in the office working continuously from 9 am till 9 pm.
Those who knew him say there were days when he would be sitting quiet, awfully quiet and when asked, “What happened, you look so low?” He would hold out his arm to me and ask to touch and see if I am running a fever.”
He would quietly leave the office for the lodge. He had a high fever so he would go to bed without eating anything. No medicine, no treatment. The next morning he would still have a fever, but he would come to work anyway. Swadesh was so short-staffed that we couldn’t afford to take a break for even a day or two.
Some depictions in cinema also disturbed him.
He implored the UP government to prohibit children of 16 years and below from watching films.
“Cinema is one of the reasons for the decline in the moral character of India’s youth; and since the government controls the cinema industry, it bears the responsibility entirely. For an annual income of merely 60–70 lakhs, no civilised nation would like to see its future citizens degraded.”
The immediate reason for the outburst was the megahit Barsaat, a film of passion and melancholy, which 24-year-old Raj Kapoor had directed and acted in. Following another controversy, the screening of Barsaat was stopped six months after its release.
But, Atal protested, however, its “dirty, vulgar songs” could still be heard everywhere.
He feigned shock at a song extolling the heroine’s “patli kamar, tirchhi nazar” – (slender waist and occasionally flirtatious glance) – “a vulgar song echoing from the lips of every Lucknow child”.
The All India Radio’s policy in this regard was also “pernicious” and they needed to exercise caution in the selection of songs that were aired.
Intellectually, he was growing. In his post-ban avatar as the editor, Atal developed a niche: India’s relations with the rest of the world. His writings on foreign policy displayed an ingenuity that was missing elsewhere. Not long ago, hardly anyone in the RSS had the inclination or the academic grounding required to analyse the pros and cons of India’s diplomatic relations.
Abhishek Choudhary explains what made Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the man he is viewed as today – he managed to evade arrest when RSS was banned after Mahatma’s assassination in 1948, he was someone who was sidelined too, but that did not dampen his spirits neither did it blunt hom intellectually.
In his head, he was a democrat whose ethos was cemented in Sangh’s ideology.
He was also against the Rath Yatra which catapulted the BJP into the giant it has become today. He came on board very recultantly which again is a testimony that he was not for any extreme form of religion.
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