Atal Bihari Vajpayee was India's best consensus builder in politics

Democracy and respect for diversity are even more closely interlinked in India than elsewhere, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee understood this better than most leaders of his time. India is a land of unmatched diversity, which is reflected in its geography, social structure, cultural landscape and political life. No community, organisation or ideology has ever succeeded, or can ever succeed, in establishing complete dominance over others. Vajpayee knew this. Therefore, he would have never allowed the arrogant, unseemly and plainly myopic talk of "Congress-mukt Bharat" (Congressless India) put out by the BJP's current leaders.