Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A heritage marked by political leadership, cordial competition, and diplomatic interactions transcending party boundaries.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee's legacy encompasses numerous facets. As a democratically elected Prime Minister, his enduring impact lies in his profound respect for adversaries, including notable figures from the Congress such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Sonia Gandhi.
Not one to withhold criticism, Vajpayee is known to have engaged the country's first Prime Minister, Nehru, during a critical juncture - the midst of the Sino-India conflict - by proposing a special parliamentary session. Nehru, despite being on the defensive, acquiesced and deliberated on the matter. Throughout his tenure, Vajpayee consistently expressed admiration for "Panditji" both domestically and internationally.

In an illustrative incident, during Vajpayee's tenure as Foreign Minister in the Morarji Desai administration in 1977, he took steps to reinstate a portrait of Nehru on the wall behind the foreign minister's desk and chair. This gesture was prompted by the removal of Nehru's portrait by overzealous officials when the first non-Congress government assumed office at the Center.

In 1971, with the creation of Bangladesh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee depicted Indira Gandhi as 'Abhinav Chandi Durga' for her victory over Pakistan in the war. Vajpayee's portrayal of Indira as Durga contributed to her cultivating a larger-than-life image. Indira herself acknowledged to her friend and biographer Pupul Jayakar that she experienced some sense of 'supernatural powers' during and before the war, which led to peculiar occurrences.

Vajpayee's reference to Indira as Durga sparked considerable controversy. In an article titled "Kiski Puja Kar Rahen Hain Bahujan" (Whom are the lower castes worshipping?), Dalit activist Prem Kumar Mani recalled how Communist leader SA Dange had objected to the Durga label assigned to Indira. Reportedly, Dange told Vajpayee, "Atal Bihari does not know what he is saying, and Indira Gandhi cannot understand what she is hearing. Both should realize that Chandi Durga massacred Dalits and backward classes." [Source: "Ballot - Ten episodes that have shaped India’s Democracy," pages 16-17, Hachette]
Three days after the passing of PV Narasimha Rao, on December 26, 2004, Vajpayee disclosed a significant piece of information. He credited Narasimha Rao as the 'true father' of India's nuclear program. During a visit to his hometown Gwalior to attend a writers' meet, Vajpayee, sounding somewhat emotional, revealed that upon assuming the Prime Minister's Office in 1996 (for the 13-day tenure), he received a note from his predecessor urging him to continue the nation's nuclear program.

“Rao had asked me not to make it public; but today when he is dead and gone, I wish to set records straight.” In typical Vajpayee fashion, the former prime minister went on: “Rao told me that the bomb is ready. I exploded it. I did not miss the opportunity.”
Vajpayee said he never blamed the Congress party on this count. “They, too, wanted a strong India to counter Pakistan and China. In foreign policy matters, they never lacked a commitment,” Vajpayee had said oblivious of the future where barely 10 years later, his own party’s leadership consistently blamed the Congress for all ills in the country.

Vajpayee's esteem for Congress leadership was founded on practical considerations. In 1994, when Pakistan was vociferously raising concerns about alleged human rights transgressions in Jammu and Kashmir on international platforms, Narasimha Rao dispatched Vajpayee as the head of the Indian delegation to the 1994 session of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva. A snapshot capturing a triumphant Vajpayee embracing Salman Khurshid (then India's junior foreign minister) upon his return from Geneva graced the cover of India Today magazine, an image etched in the memory of many.
Despite having engaged in acrimonious political confrontations with Rajiv Gandhi over issues like Bofors, the Shah Bano case, and the Ayodhya dispute, a different facet of their relationship emerged when Rajiv tragically lost his life in a bomb explosion in Sriperumbudur in May 1991. 

Vajpayee shared with the prominent interviewer Karan Thapar that during Rajiv's tenure as Prime Minister (1984-89), Rajiv had learned about Vajpayee's severe kidney ailment necessitating specialized treatment abroad. Vajpayee recounted how Rajiv had personally contacted him one day, informing him of his inclusion in India's delegation to the United Nations. Rajiv's hope was that Vajpayee would seize the opportunity to receive the treatment he required. Vajpayee's subsequent trip to New York for medical care, as revealed in a television interview with Thapar, became a pivotal factor in preserving his life.

On a different occasion, Vajpayee opted to mention Sonia Gandhi while addressing an audience in New York in 2002. He recounted that following the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, Sonia Gandhi, then the Leader of the Opposition, had reached out to him over the phone. She asked, "Where are you? Are you okay? I am okay, are you okay too?" At that time, Sonia's gesture demonstrated the remarkable nature of Indian democracy, according to Vajpayee. He highlighted that despite political differences, unity was a widely recognized trait of Indian politics.

In some respects, Vajpayee played a role in shaping Sonia as a shrewd politician. This incident is mentioned in the book "Sonia: A Biography" (Penguin 2003) on pages 94-95. In June 2001, Vajpayee selected Sonia to lead an Indian delegation to the United States, a decision that became a turning point in her political journey. As the Leader of the Opposition, Sonia's appointment as a representative to the UN AIDS Conference created discontent within the BJP-NDA. Vajpayee's Health Minister, CP Thakur, had aspirations to lead the delegation and reportedly reacted with dissatisfaction.

An important moment arrived for Sonia when she engaged in a one-on-one meeting with US Vice President Dick Cheney. Throughout a series of meetings, media interactions, and more, Sonia consciously refrained from injecting domestic politics or her ideological disparities with the BJP. Instead, she consistently emphasized the theme of a national consensus to address issues like poverty, diseases, and population stabilization.