(Atal Bihari Vajpayee often described as one of the greatest orators modern India ever produced using his much famed eloquence in Hindi and spellbinding oratory to enrapture a crowd in public meeting.)
Book Review
Vajpayee (Part 1): Ascent of Hindu Right 1924-1977
Abhishek Chaudhuri
432 Pages Rs. 695
Picador India
After a long await, it seems relief has finally come to everyone interested in Atal Bihari Vajpayee or ascent of political Hindu Right wing in India with the latest book Vajpayee: Ascent of Hindu Right wing 1924-1977, a debut work, first in a two volume series by a young scholar Abhishek Chaudhary, praised as definitive and landmark work on it's subject by various eminent intellectuals such as Ramachandra Guha, Shruti Kapila and Christophe Jefferlot among others on it's blurb. In the preface to the book, the author confidently claims to fill the vaccum for a descent biography(1) for Hindu right's most mainstream and respected icon Atal Bihari Vajpayee and also takes upon himself the mantle of debunking myths around him accepted at face value in hitherto previously published works by certain "celebrity journalists".(2)
This book surely deserves credit for deconstruction of Vajpayee as a politician by anchoring his poetry and politics in ideological grounding and understanding of history and society around him, much of it which he derieved from his moorings, Hindutva and RSS. Though the author points out how the stridency and radical tone of the young Brahmin boy mellowed down in later years as he entered parliament and travelled arouund India and the world. This book also charts how Vajpayee was firmly committed to Sangh's ideological goals in his own moderate and democractic way with much more clarity than any previous writer on this issue.
This book also importantly brings out the multiple fault lines within the Jana Sangh including it's continuously oscillating stands on both domestic and diplomatic issues, it's apparent lack of clear economic policy and ultimately it's inner clash of power dynamics between various camps and also between individuals.
(Abhishek Chaudhari, who worked as journalist for various publications and was awarded the New India Foundation scholarship to write a full fledged scholarly biography of former PM Vajpayee on basis of his years of rigourous primary research.)
For a book that gives impression of scholarly detachment from pshcoanalytical interpretation of the individual in deference to wider analysis of the social phenomenon, it's replete with salacious facts here and there, that India's first Prime Minister Nehru was in affair with a certain young Sanayasin Shradha Mata or that RSS's ascetic second chief MS Golwalkar was a chain smoker.(3) The irrant rants of Balraj Madhok on Vajpayee's immoral private life and his obsession for alcohol have been quoted straight from his untrustable autobiography written much later after his much bitter estrangement with Vajpayee and co. which is highlighted by the author himself.
But perhaps the most stunning and controversial of all are the scandalous claims made by the author on which he radically differs from almost all previous biographers(4) of Vajpayee is on the issue of celibate Vajpayee's sensitively tangled men├аg├й ├а trois with Rajkumari Kaul, her husband Mr. Brij Narain Kaul and their family whom Vajpayee considered his own and in whose home and embrace he spent major portion of his life. In a very brief chapter titled, The Husband and the lover, the author for the first time by someone in public domain plainly tells the readers that Vajapayee was indeed the biological father of Mrs. Kaul's second daughter Namita who was raised as "warden's (Mr. BN Kaul's) daughter" only for name sake and to avoid any embarassment to their respective families, if accurate, breaking perhaps the best kept secret of Luteyn's Delhi. The author curiously haven't given any footnotes, source or reference for such a sensational claim which is repeated again and again in the book.
This important piece of information than constitutes a fundamental clue in understanding the private personnae of Vajpayee away from public glare, the crucial and constant mental churn between at one side the love starved Atal finally finding a stable repository of emotional and physical satisfaction while the pschycosis of never being able to publiy accept his daughter as his own and a fear of not upsetting this carefully maintained equilibrium. Nevertheless it must be said that Vajpayee, Mrs. Kaul and Mr. Kaul and their children all since years have maintained this however tangled lives of theirs in very dignified and graceful manner away from glamour and brutal public mudslinging. Today when none of the dramatis personne involved in this affair are alive today, we should be restrain ourselves with respect and dignity for an unconventional relationship which was no doubt scandalous but nevertheless had mutual acceptance of all involved, before jumping to any moralising prudist judgement that does injustice to it's complex and very humane nature indeed.
This books also lays down the constant psychological dichotomy that pegged the mind of Vajpayee throughout his political life and even after this most detailed book continues to demystify that what did he actually believed and to what extent. For good or bad, ambiguity became inseparable from charm and personality of Atal and was ultimately the harbinger and limitation of his success. Despite this book's overall success in shedding light on Vajpayee's early political career and clearing many cobwebs surrounding him, one flaw that could be said of is it's apparent lack of adequate engagement and reflection on Vajapyee's interior churnings and exterior demenour in more thoughtful way and to have been a little more balanced in his approach towards his subject. (5)
Reading this biography one is reminded of American Biographer Rick Perlstein's books, meticulously chronicling rise of Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon and Ronald Regan, all Republicans and icons of American right and rise of America's political right with impressive details and deft analysis but professedly from critical if not hostile point of view of the project and the men itself. One sincerely wishes to know what the author makes of Vajpayee's character as throughout the the course of book the contradictions in his personna only appears to grow more and more.
On structural aspects also this book needs to be commended for it's vast array of intresting nuggets of information and details in form of footnotes giving credibility to author's claim of rigorous primary research through review of archival sources and conducting first hand interviews.
One important aspect of Sangh Parivar that can be deduced from this book is how since it's inception, it had tried hard to gain respectability by getting validation from various non-Hindutvaeaning stalwarts of public life with varied levels of success. It was able to get eminent Hindi authors Rahul Sankrityayan and Mahadevi Verma to contribute to it's publications, famous poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar despite previous misgivings later went on supporting it and no person less than Jaiprakash Narayan staking his personal credibility behind it.
This book also captures some of poignant moments of this journey of Atal and Hindu right movement in aftermath of tragedies such as untimely death of both his mentors Shyama Mookherjee and Deendayal Upadhyaya. The book concludes with chronicling the struggles and careful navigational dillemas faced by Atal and his ideological parivar in the tumultuous period of Shrimati Gandhi's reign culminating in draconian Emergency and then ultimately installation of first non-Congress government in power at National level with our protagonist displaying political astutness and humility contended himself with external affairs ministry despite his Jana Sangh being single largest contributor in seats to the Janata Party.
In formative years of young Vajpayee's early parliamentary career, Nehru loomed large over him both as a charismatic figure and as an formidable adversary. At his death, Vajpayee paid him a remarkably moving and glowing tribute. At the end, perhaps even most passionate detractors of Atal would concede that as he said of Nehru, so for Vajpayee himself -
"...Nor would Teen Murti be ever graced by a resident like him. His persona, his exuberance, his ability to carry even the detractors along, his refined gentlemanliness – we may not again see in the near future..."
(The author of this review is a pursuing post-graduation in Political Science from University of Delhi.)
--- Bhuvan Krishna
18.05.2023
Notes -
1. Though this is not the first work on Vajpayee, there have been earlier biographies in English too on him such as one's written by journalists Kingshuk Nag and NP Ullekh which have majorly repeated known cliches about Vajpayee and had very little new to offer.
2. The author pointedly criticises Sagarika Ghosh for heavily relying on secondary sources for her recently published biography on Vajpayee.
3. Though this claim has been made on earlier occasion on gossip coloumns of popular magazines notably by Khushwant Singh, it has hardly been accepted as fact in mainstream scholarly works yet.
4.The author goes on to the extent of criticizing Vinay Sitapati's book Jugalbandi for being replete with errors for stating that Vajpayee and Mrs. Kaul's relationship was merely "intellectual".
(Also refer to 3. Below)
5. The author in Acknowledgements section of the book clearly states his antagonism to the kind of politics practiced by Vajapyee and Sangh Parivar and is reflected throughout the course of book as well.
Suggested Links and extra readings -
1. The readers are also advised to read Vikram Sampath and Vinayak Chaturvedi's recent biographies and books on VD Savarkar for better understanding of Hindutva by looking closely and critically at it's fountainhead.
2. The reader would find enriching to read Janardan Thakur's books carrying pen portraits of all major characters of this book, "All the Prime Minister's men" & "All the Janta's men" as the concluding part of book deals with Emergency phrase.
3. (a) "Vajpayee's friendship with Mrs Kaul was not spoken of in the media. There was an unwritten protocol that neither the media breached, nor Vajpayee ever felt the need to explain. His relationship with Mrs Kaul is best summed up in her own words to a women's magazine - the only interview she ever gave - that once the dirty rumours (about Atal living in her house) began, she never felt the need to offer 'apologetic explanations'. In the same interview, she also said that her friendship with Atal was 'way too mature' for anyone to understand, and that her relationship with her husband was way too strong for these rumours to dent."
I haven't read about Atal ji so much but it was a fairly intriguing post.
ReplyDeleteThank you Anju. ЁЯШК
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