Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A Man for All Seasons

by Kingshuk Nag

On 5 and 6 April 1980, the erstwhile members of the Jana Sangh met at New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla and formed a new party headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. There was discussion whether the party should revert to its old name and be called the Bharatiya Jana Sangh once again. Vijaya Raje Scindia felt that it should be so. Atal, however, was of the opinion that the Jana Sangh was perceived as too hardline a party and it would be best if the new party was projected with a different image. Atal’s and L.K. Advani’s experience of working with the Janata government prime minister Morarji Desai had been good. Advani had served as the information and broadcasting minister in the Morarji government. The duo found that they were on the same page as Morarji, who was a Gandhian. Atal, along with Advani, had also been greatly influenced by Jayaprakash Narayan. Thus, Atal proposed that the new party should loosely model itself on the Janata Party; hence, the new outfit was to be called the Bharatiya Janata Party. Gandhian socialism was its credo and the flag of the party was adopted in good measure from the Janata Party.