Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A Man for All Seasons

by Kingshuk Nag

raising the hackles of extreme right wingers like Madhok. However, those who knew Atal were aware that he was genuine in praising people when he thought that they deserved to be applauded. In the past he had openly admired Nehru when he thought that it was fair. It seems that one day, in the late 1950s, when the entire opposition was busy criticizing Nehru, Atal had stood up and asked whether it was mandatory for the entire opposition to criticize every move of the government just for the sake of opposition. He had said that when it came to the integrity of the nation, everybody needed to stand by the leader, cutting across party lines. Similarly, Atal had been filled with grief when Nehru had passed away in 1964, declaring that the sun had set. He had said, ‘Nehru was an honest man who was never afraid of negotiation and never negotiated with fear.’