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In his widely acclaimed autobiography, 'Nice Guys Finish Second',
B.K. Nehru has made several references to the BJP and Shri Atal
Bihari Vajpayee. Here are some of the references made by B.K.
Nehru:
'My friend Rajabhai (P.N.) Sapru. himself a Congress MP, suggested
I join the Jan Sangh. Atal Bihari was a good chap; the party was
honest, straightforward, incorruptible and not hypocritical. I did
not rule out the idea. I saw no sense in denying the fact that
India was eighty-five per. cent a Hindu country and that the roots
of Indian culture were embedded in the Hindu
religion.
The fact that it was only the commercial relationship with India
which really mattered to Great Britain came as a rather unpleasant
surprise to the new Foreign Minister of India after the defeat of
Indira Gandhi in 1977. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the most
attractive, charming, erudite and sophisticated of men, came to
London that year along with Morarjibhai for the Commonwealth Heads
of Government Conference.
He called on the Foreign Secretary David (now Lord) Owen. That
dignitary spoke to him during their half-hour meeting only of the
balance of payments between the two countries and the absolute
necessity of India buying more British goods. He had a long list
of what he thought India should buy from Britain and the reasons
why.
Poor Foreign Minister Atal Bihari, who. had gone really to discuss
'world affairs', had little knowledge of what his counterpart was
talking about. He had to content himself by assuring the Foreign
Secretary that he would give the matter his full consideration.
On coming out of the room he said to me. 'Yeh kya baten karin isne;
yeh baton koyi Foreign Minister ke karne ki hoti hain (What were
these things this man talked about; are these matters that Foreign
Ministers should discuss)?!'
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whom I had never met before, but whose praise
I had heard and whose utterances I had liked, had turned out to be
one of the most attractive people I have had the good fortune to
meet. A man with impeccable manners, a broad vision. a great sense
of humour, a great orator and a master of the Hindi language, he
was a politician trained in the old school, very different from the
crude breed that was increasingly being thrown up by our system of
government."
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