The early years of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee captured in a new biography, Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right 1924-77, by Abhishek Choudhary are not just instructive on the manner in which Vajpayee dealt with questions of politics and ideology, but also the fluid lines between conservative and liberal politics in the years pre- and post-independence. In what would seem unbelievable now, the book explores how both the Congress and the Sangh Parivar tried to co-opt each other for many years, till, the conservatives in the Congress were overrun by progressives. In a conversation, Choudhary busts several myths surrounding Vajpayee and how the formidable election machinery of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) originated and grew. Excerpts from an interview.
