The whole debate about Atal Bihari Vajpayee being conferred the Bharat Ratna takes me back more than two decades. I was a cub reporter and was asked by my magazine to interview Atal ji. He used to live right opposite the Press Club on Raisina Road. He was simply an MP then. L. K. Advani was the rising star of the BJP and Vajpayee was seen to be side-lined by the saffron brigade. It was just the two of us; the interview started well; in between, a plate full of sweets and samosas were brought in. As he looked at the ladoos, he said, " Arre Ashutosh ji interview to hota rahega, pehle pet pooja kar lijiye".I was in awe of him and till then had been quite tense. When he said this, it completely changed the ambience. He was no longer a larger-than-life figure. I realised he was, like me, an ordinary man with normal food habits and worldly desires. I had interviewed many other top politicians including Advani, Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar etc but none could match up to Vajpayee. All of them remained true to their public persona, bigger than the crowds that gathered for them, distant from the rest and stiff in public appearances.I was always opposed to Vajpayee's ideology, as I found it anything but inclusive. The debate around militant Hindutva and cultural nationalism was scorching in the early 90s. Nehruvian secularism was under severe attack from the rightist forces. Secular history was openly challenged. The question of the Hindu-Muslim divide was discussed on every street corner in Northern India. The atmosphere was charged. Communal violence was the order of the day. The idea of India seemed to be cracking. The BJP was on an ascendance and the Congress and the Left were in forced retreat.The corridors of power were abuzz that that Vajpayee was not in favour of the Ram Mandir Movement and he abhorred the idea of attacking the minority community and its rich tradition. It was also said that since he was not in synch with the party, he was removed from the centre stage and Advani was anointed the new leader of the party. It was not a happy situation for Vajpayee who had been the face of the party for three decades; yet, he did not lose his composure even once.Vajpayee was admired by his supporters for his oratory. Even Jawaharlal Nehru had a very high opinion of him. The Sangh Parivaar saw him as a saffron answer to Nehru. Like Nehru, he was idealist to the core, open- minded, accommodating and a democrat in the true sense. It was because of his charisma that he could lead a coalition of more than two dozens of political parties in 1998. It was not a mean achievement for a man whose party had always been treated by others as untouchable.Vajpayee transcended the BJP and its ideology and through him, the party and the Sangh Parivaar became acceptable. Advani could never emerge from the shadow of the Atal ji. He was the darling of the Hindutva forces but his acceptability was limited. Advani knew his limitations and openly admitted them in public. He preferred to be the second-in-command. Advani and Vajpayee complimented each other beautifully. It was a different BJP then.I am tempted to compare them with the stalwarts of Congress party - Pt. Nehru and Sardar Patel. Both competed with and complemented each other. Their differences never crossed the boundaries of niceties and dignity. Both were imbued with idealism. Power for them was not self-satisfying but an instrument of change for nation-building. But with the demise of Nehru, the power equation within the Congress changed and the nature of power also changed. For Nehru, power was the means to an end but for his daughter, power was an end in itself. Indira Gandhi was a true technician of power. She controlled power, she created power, she demolished power. She enjoyed power. For Mrs. Gandhi there were no adversaries, only enemies. And enemies were not to be tolerated but to be annihilated.With Vajpayee being ill and Advani in the shadows, the new power structure has emerged in the BJP as it happened in Congress with the emergence of Indira Gandhi. Narendra Modi is the saffron reply to the Congress's Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi never shared power with anybody except her family members. Her colleagues were not at par with her. She was the leader and was the party. Modi has also modeled himself on her. He is the king and kings are not compared with lesser mortals. In a way, History is repeating itself. BJP is following the path that the Congress took - Idealism slowly being replaced by a hunger for power. Modi is the logical corollary to Vajpayee as Indira was to Nehru. The only difference being that the Congress kept it in the family. In a way this is also a Parivaaar, the Sangh Parivaaar. So I am not surprised that Modi is trying to pay back Vajpayee with the Bharat Ratna.

But with Vajpayee, I could crack a joke and feel at ease. He was a great leader but also had a childlike innocence. People like Nehru and Vajpayee are still remembered with affection because at times they came across as fragile. They looked human. They looked like they were one of us. It was only people like Vajpayee who could cry in public and complain in Mumbai in 2005 - "Apno ke bano ne mara". (The wounds have been inflicted by our own people). It's this innocence, not power, which helped him transcend boundaries and generations. That is why he truly deserves the Bharat Ratna.