Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a gifted orator and poet, a leader for whom the nation came first above everything else, including his own party. But some, like Vajpayee, are unforgettable because the “Vajpayee era spanned generations”, as Arun Jaitley once commented, and his aura will span decades, probably centuries. “Character of power is the same always,” Vajpayee once said, adding that “we should try to transform that character through personal example”. Although Vajpayee couldn’t completely change the character of power politics, he did influence the character of his own party. AdvertisementSome opposition leaders used to tell Vajpayee that he was the “right man in the wrong party”.

Source: Indian Express December 27, 2025 07:20 UTC