Consummate poet, orator par excellence, amiable statesman, astute politician, foreign affairs expert, foodie and much more. BJP veteran and three-time Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 93, was a multi-talented politician who lived life on his own terms and left an indelible mark on Indian politics.
An affable leader with friends across the ideological divide, Vajpayee was loved and admired even by political adversaries of the BJP who often said they have issues with the party but not with him. Called “teflon-coated” by some as he always came out unscathed from attacks by opponents, Vajpayee was adored as he never held any malice towards his foes.
Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the first time on May 16, 1996 when then President Shankar Dayal Sharma invited BJP which had emerged as the single largest party, to form the government. Vajpayee’s tenure lasted just 13 days as no new allies came out to support the Hindutva right-wing party. But during the debate on his Trust Vote, many parties said they have no issues with Vajpayee, only with his party.
He got another opportunity in 1998 when on March 19, he was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second time. After 13 months, the Vajpayee government lost the vote of confidence by one vote on April 17, 1999. This is the only government at the Centre to have lost a confidence vote. During this tenure, his dispensation carried out India’s second nuclear test at Pokharan on May 11, 1998. A spate of trade and other sanctions by US and other countries followed.
Despite the nuclear test, Vajpayee reached out to Pakistan through the Lahore bus diplomacy in February, 1999 to bring peace between the two nations. However, just three months later, Pakistan attacked India in May 1999, leading to the Kargil war. India gave a decisive defeat to its neighbour after a two month battle.
The Vajpayee-led NDA won 303 Lok Sabha seats in 1999 and he was sworn in as Prime Minister for the third time on October 13. This term was also highly eventful.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on Christmas in 1924 at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. He became a RSS member at the age of 15 in 1939. Later he became a pracharak and then a founder member of BJS.
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DATA SOURCE : THE ECONOMIC TIMES