Late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s early years are captured in a new biography, Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-77The writings by Abhishek Chowdhary are instructive not only on the way Vajpayee dealt with questions of politics and ideology, but also on the fluid lines between conservative and liberal politics in the years before and after independence. In what would seem incredible now, the book delves into how both the Congress and the Sangh Parivar tried to co-opt each other for several years, until the conservatives in the Congress were outnumbered by the progressives. In a conversation, Chowdhary busts several myths surrounding Vajpayee and explains how the formidable election machinery of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) originated and grew. Excerpts from an interview.
Vajpayee as MP and President of Jana Sangh at a committee meeting in Cochin. , Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Do you agree with the view that Vajpayee was the “right man in the wrong party”?
no way. He was the right man in the right party, and not only that, he was leading that party. This narrative of the “right man in the wrong party” came to the fore in the 1980s when the Janata Party government came to power.
Vajpayee and BJP leader LK Advani in New Delhi. , photo credit: Rajeev Bhatt
How does this story begin in the 1980s?
However, the original title of the book was The Believer’s Dilemma and the UK edition still bears that title. The reason was that Vajpayee’s real indecisiveness on big questions like the direction or governance of Hinduism began towards the end of the Janata government and differences with the RSS on some of these issues came to the public for the first time, during that time. In fact, Vajpayee wrote an article in The Indian Express in 1979, saying that although he was from the RSS, the organization should not hold certain views or distance itself from the Janata government, and this really irked the RSS. After the collapse of the Janata government, and the political chaos that followed, the RSS didn’t have much choice and went with Vajpayee, as the Jana Sangh was of the view that it was the ‘real’ Janata Party of JP (Jayaprakash). Narayan) which included co-opting the ideas of post-Gandhian socialism which found its way into the newly formed BJP.
Jayaprakash Narayan at the 1975 session of the Jana Sangh: “If the Jana Sangh is fascist, I am also a fascist.” Vajpayee at the center | photo credit: special arrangement
The Jana Sangh was consciously pushing the idea that together with the new BJP they were “JP’s party”. Hence, these dilemmas and confusions started in the late 1970s and manifested in the late 1980s. In the initial years, Vajpayee was leading the Jana Sangh and the stream of that ideology. His travels also influenced his thought process.
A typical campaign photograph of Vajpayee from the late 1950s. , photo credit: special arrangement
How influential were his travels in shaping his worldview?
Vajpayee’s worldview broadened greatly with his travels, especially when he went abroad. I write in great detail about his trip to America, his first overseas trip, where he was amazed by the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society. He was curious about what bound societies together. He then traveled as part of almost every parliamentary delegation, even visiting more than 16 countries by the time he became foreign minister in 1977, an extensive at that time rare overseas travel. All this broadened his worldview in a way it did not happen for the RSS.
Indian External Affairs Minister Vajpayee with Chinese Premier Hua Guofeng in Peking on February 15, 1979. , Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
The hard lines we now see between the Sangh Parivar and other parties are absent in your book. You have written in detail how in the 1940s the RSS and even the Jana Sangh was ready to work with the Congress.
The line between secularism and communalism or between progressives and conservatives was not that rigid. For example, Mauli Chandra Sharma (“the tier-two Delhi Congressman”) arranged for Mahatma Gandhi’s funeral when Nehru was around. Furthermore, the RSS by that time did not want to have much to do with the Hindu Mahasabha and was also seeking state patronage, which led it to reach out to Sardar Patel, who represented the conservative element in the Congress. Sardar Patel had wanted to co-opt the RSS for some time before Vajpayee, and told BS Moonje (of the Hindu Mahasabha and co-founder of the RSS) that he should join mainstream politics. In fact, a letter from Sardar Patel’s daughter Maniben Patel states that “Bapu [Sardar Patel] wants them [the RSS] To join Congress. ,
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the 103rd birth anniversary celebrations of Syama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder and prominent leader of Jana Sangh, in New Delhi on July 6, 2004. photo credit: Rajeev Bhatt
Vajpayee appears to be more conflicted about economic policy than anything else.
In the initial years, the Sangh Parivar did not think much about economics or foreign policy as they were not even a party in the beginning. When he formed the Jana Sangh, the economic policy was ad hoc. He also took into account his constituency of upper caste voters who owned land or were small businessmen to oppose Nehru’s focus on big industry and land reforms. They were also reactive to radical changes. For example, when Indira Gandhi announced the nationalization of banks, the Jana Sangh initially opposed it and changed its stand after seeing it as a popular move. All these contradictions came home when the NDA government was formed, where the Vajpayee government’s economic reform policy found him at odds with his friend of 55 years, Dattopant Thengadi, who founded the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.
Vajpayee arrives at Parliament on a bullock cart to protest against the hike in petrol prices in November 1973 Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Do you agree that the Indian socialists and the Emergency movement brought the Jana Sangh and the BJP into the mainstream?
I really do not agree because the situation at that time was such that they needed the Jana Sangh to fight the Congress giant. Earlier Jana Sangh tried to forge alliances with right wing organizations like Hindu Mahasabha and Ram Rajya Parishad, which held conservative views on caste reforms etc., but they could not for the same reasons. The socialists and others saw that the Jana Sangh had a presence in electoral politics, and that they were not like the Mahasabha and other such parties. Of course, there were ideological differences, with Madhu Limaye being his staunch opponent, while Madhu Dandavate was in favor of giving the Jana Sangh the benefit of the doubt. However, most were in favor of giving the Jana Sangh a chance, including Jayaprakash Narayan, as the situation developed. So this “mainstream” argument is only partially true as the Sangh Parivar was part of almost all movements in independent India, from anti-cow slaughter to VP Singh’s anti-corruption movement. The Jana Sangh/BJP was destined to grow with time, as they had an organized and disciplined cadre and were determined to capture power.
Top leaders of the Jana Sangh at the Parliamentary Board meeting in New Delhi on 28 February 1967. Balraj Madhok (right), AB Bajpai (centre) and Bachhraj Vyas (left). , Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-1977, Abhishek Chowdhary, Picador India, ₹899.
nistula.hebbar@thehindu.co.in