Believer's Dilemma

Winner of the 2023 Tata Literature First Book Award
Named among the best books of 2023 by Hindu, Telegraph, and Frontline

A stunningly original portrait of the rise of the Hindu Right, and the influential and enigmatic politician at its heart.

‘Doubles as a history of Hindu supremacism . . . it won’t be bettered for a long time’ – Pankaj Mishra
‘The finest biography of an Indian prime minister that I have read’ – Ramachandra Guha
‘An instant classic and a total triumph’ – Shruti Kapila
‘Meticulous and thoroughly readable’ – Shashi Tharoor
‘An unfailingly honest and searching analysis of a little-known world of political passion . . . Choudhary delivers a landmark work . . . essential reading for anyone interested in modern India’ – Ruth Harris
‘Spectacular . . . in a different league’ – India Today

A man of unusual gifts and dangerously consequential flaws, India’s fabled twelfth prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was until recently the Hindu Right’s most glamorized and enigmatic face. Drawing huge crowds with his natural eloquence, Vajpayee rose from academically mediocre beginnings to become an underground organizer of the proscribed Hindu-revivalist group the RSS, eventually becoming the first RSS volunteer to win a seat in parliament. He grew into a powerful spokesperson for historical victimhood, a vital instrument in the project of Hinduizing India.

Abhishek Choudhary’s definitive and unsentimental biography uncovers for the first time and in unprecedented detail how Vajpayee’s early life lay at the heart of his political character. Renowned for his fiery speeches and maudlin poetry, Vajpayee bridged the gap between Jawaharlal Nehru’s liberalism and Vinayak Savarkar’s conservatism, helping mainstream the Hindu Right.

The first of a riveting two-volume study, Believer’s Dilemma is a powerful account of one of the most influential Indian figures in recent history, and of the tumultuous rise of Hindu revivalism.