Atal Bihari was not a Freedom fighter - check his role during quit India movement. He is not a directly a crook either compared to current lot of BJP guys but he needed crooks like Pramod Mahajan to survive....but he has been responsible for Hindutva movements like that in Ayodhya which was considered a criminal act and resulted in loss of lives. Atalji is otherwise quite OK and that is why he was allowed to become the PM of this country. The least tainted of the BJP lot. Otherwise you either belonged to a dynasty or be crooked in order to be elected.
And that is one reason why most people really don't mind Sonia Gandhi ... at least she does not have to be crooked to be elected.
