Book Review: Abhishek Choudhary‘s ‘Vajpayee’ explores an enigma

Published : Jul 13, 2023 11:00 IST - 8 MINS READ The best thing about this book is not the diligent research, fluent writing or even the unearthing of new facts about former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 899 When examining the influences on the young Vajpayee, for instance, and his fascination with historical fiction such as Pratap Pratigya, on Maharana Pratap, the Rajput King of Mewar, or Vrindalal Verma’s Jhansi ki Rani, the author writes: “Whereas the past ought to be faced squarely, the response of the Hindi elite was the response of a defeated people, for whom lying to themselves was the only recourse.” The author notes that “these novels interpreted the history of Hindus over the past 1,000 years as not one of abject surrender to Islamic and British rule, rather one of constant struggle and occasional victory… and thus Atal had come to have a sharp sense of his past—the Hindu past. This past was rooted in the stories woven around what certain Hindi intellectuals would have liked their history to be.” Ideological origins This book examines the imagination and the ideological neurosis that determine the world view of the Hindu right and dominate our lives in more absolute ways than in Vajpayee’s lifetime. Highlights Abhishek Choudhary’s Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right offers fascinating psychological insights into Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s psyche, and thereby into the thinking of the entire Hindu right. offers fascinating psychological insights into Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s psyche, and thereby into the thinking of the entire Hindu right.