About Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian writer, poet and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, from 1998 to 2004, and previously for two weeks in 1996. He was the first non-Congress prime minister to serve a full term in the office. Vajpayee was one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a volunteer and full-time functionary (pracharak) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary volunteer organisation. Vajpayee combined cultural nationalism with political moderation, shaping a distinctive strand of post-Independence Indian conservatism rooted in civilisational identity. Vajpayee represented a current in Hindu nationalism that sought to harmonise cultural identity with democratic pluralism. The longest-serving member of the Indian Parliament and its lower house, the Lok Sabha, Vajpayee was a parliamentarian for over five decades, having been elected ten times to the Lok Sabha, and twice to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament. He served as the Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Gwalior, New Delhi and Balrampur constituencies, before retiring from active politics in 2009 due to health concerns. He was among the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), of which he was president from 1968 to 1972. The BJS merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party, which won the 1977 general election. In March 1977, Vajpayee became the minister of external affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Morarji Desai. He resigned in 1979, and the Janata alliance collapsed soon after. Former members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh formed the BJP in 1980, with Vajpayee as its first president. During his tenure as prime minister, India carried out the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, postured as nation's self-assertion. Vajpayee sought to improve diplomatic relations with Pakistan, travelling to Lahore by bus to meet with Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. After the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan, he sought to restore relations through engagement with President Pervez Musharraf, inviting him to India for a summit at Agra. Vajpayee's government introduced many domestic economic and infrastructural reforms, including encouraging the private sector and foreign investments, reducing governmental waste, encouraging research and development, and the privatisation of some government owned corporations. Vajpayee's tenure was marked by several major challenges, including the 1999 Kargil intrusion by Pakistan-backed forces, and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack carried out by Pakistan-based jihadist groups. The Parliament attack led to Operation Parakram, one of the largest post-Independence military mobilisations. The 2002 Gujarat riots followed the burning of coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, in which many Ram Sevaks returning from Ayodhya were killed after a mob attacked and set the train on fire. Although the riots drew national and international criticism, scholars note that Vajpayee's defeat in the 2004 general election was more directly linked to economic factors, rural distress, and the miscalculated India Shining campaign rather than any single event. Vajpayee was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award in 1992 by the Narasimha Rao led government. In 2014, the Narendra Modi administration declared Vajpayee's birthday, 25 December to be celebrated as Good Governance Day. In 2015, he was honoured India's highest civilian honour - Bharat Ratna, by the Modi government. He died in 2018 due to age-related illness. Vajpayee has left a lasting legacy as one of the great leaders of modern India. His name is commemorated across the nation including the Atal Tunnel, Atal Setu bridge, and several notable educational institutions.
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