Once a journalist, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in many ways a political contradiction: A moderate leader of an often-strident Hindu nationalist movement. A lifelong poet who revered nature but who oversaw India’s growth into a regional economic power. He was the prime minister who ordered nuclear tests in 1998, stoking fears of atomic war between India and Pakistan. But then, it was Vajpayee who made the first moves toward peace. A skilled politician Vajpayee managed to avoid fanaticism.
Vajpayee was that rare thing in Indian politics: untainted by corruption scandals. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior. His father was a poet and a schoolmaster in his hometown. Vajpayee did his schooling and higher education in Gwalior itself. He attended Gwalior’s Victoria College and graduated with distinction in Hindi, English, and Sanskrit. He completed his post-graduation with an M.A. in Political Science from DAV College, Kanpur, and was awarded a first-class degree. Vajpayee joined India’s Hindu revivalist political movement in his late 20s. Elected to Parliament in 1957, he became the best-known figure in its moderate wing, and helped the Bharatiya Janata Party become one of India’s few national political parties.
It was the April of 1980 when a new party was born on India’s political map- The Bharatiya Janata Party. “Andhera Chhatega, Suraj Nikalega, Kamal Khilega.” This is how the party chief Atal Bihari Vajpayee introduced this new political party to India. 15 years later, the victory of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and that of BJP was significant. His government was the first non-Congress government in India’s 50 years long political history to complete its term. For the parliamentarian who had spent more than 4 decades inside the temple of democracy, the praise- “right man in the wrong party” wasn’t new. He even mentioned this in his speech in the Lok Sabha before the trust vote in 1998. He managed to break the spell and the very next year, NDA led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s BJP swung back to power. One of India’s longest-serving lawmakers, Vajpayee was elected nine times to the powerful Lok Sabha. He also served two terms in the Rajya Sabha.
During Janata Party government days, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the External Affairs Minister. He was also the first non Congress external affairs minister to attend UNGA which was a historical day. Vajpayee delivered a speech in Hindi at the UN General Assembly, raising India’s stand on key issues like nuclear disarmament, state-sponsored terrorism, and reforms at the world body.
He led the party to its first national electoral victory in 1996, but lasted just 13 days as prime minister before he resigned in the face of a noconfidence motion. He returned to power in 1998 for 13 months after forging an alliance of 22 parties, mostly regional power brokers with disparate local appeal. He again served as India’s prime minister from 1999 to 2004.
It was in India’s relations with Pakistan where Vajpayee’s influence may last the longest.
In June 1999, Operation Vijay was launched during the Kargil War. Indian military was fighting thousands of militants and soldiers in the midst of heavy artillery shelling while facing extremely cold weather, snow and treacherous terrain at the high altitude. Over 500 Indian soldiers were killed in the three-month-long War.
While India’s nuclear weapons program is believed to date to the 1980s, the Government of India had long insisted its atomic program was purely for peaceful purposes. That changed within a month of Vajpayee returning to the prime minister’s post in 1998, when he approved a series of nuclear weapons tests that shocked the world and pushed Islamabad to launch its own tests. But the next year, when Islamabad sent fighters across the cease-fire line that divides the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir between the nations, Vajpayee resisted military pressure to launch a broad counter-attack of Indian forces.
After 11 weeks and more than 1,000 deaths, Pakistan ordered the fighters to withdraw. India earned international praise for its caution.
His peace efforts began with a groundbreaking bus ride to Lahore, Pakistan, in February 1999, where he met with then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The diplomatic journey inaugurated the first regular bus service between the two nations.
Then, just before leaving office in 2004, he launched a peace process that, while often rocky, remains the basis of ongoing negotiations.
In 2015, the Government of India honored Vajpayee with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, while his December 25 birthday was declared “Good Governance Day” in a tribute to his leadership.
Born in 1924 in Gwalior, he was first introduced to the political sphere during the Quit India movement in 1942 when he and his brother Prem were arrested for 23 days for participating in antiBritish activities.
His oratory skills were soon recognised by the political high priests of the time as within the next five years he became a full-time RSS Pracharak and then went on to become the face of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, now BJP. Notably, after the death of Deendayal Upadhyay, responsibilities of the party fell on a young Vajpayee’s shoulders.
Between 1975 and 1977, Vajpayee, along with several opposition leaders were arrested during the internal emergency that was imposed by the then PM, Indira Gandhi.
Following the Janata Party’s victory in 1977, Vajpayee served as the External Affairs Minister in PM Morarji Desai’s cabinet. It was also the same year when he became the first person to deliver a speech at United Nations General Assembly in Hindi.
Vajpayee first became PM in 1996, however, this was only a 13-day-long stint since the party failed to garner opposition support.
He has won a number of awards and has been conferred with a series of honours as well, among which the Padma Vibhushan and the Bharat Ratna remain most noted.
Giving up on the policy of resistance, Vajpayee followed the politics of agreement and under his rule, India attained a stable economic growth.
His ambitious golden quadrilateral highway project brought the four corners of the country in close proximity. Hardly any other Indian PM has been able to look at the country in such a holistic manner.
During his Prime Ministership, Vajpayee had to endure a number of challenges. Even through major crisis, such as Kandahar to Kargil and even the Parliament attack, Vajpayee did not let go of India’s stance of handling tough situations with peace talks. A sudden stroke in 2009 left the once master orator in silence. Even though the three-time Prime Minister left active politics many years ago, his contributions towards liberalised India can hardly be forgotten.
Firm in his political convictions and a man of the masses- Atal Bihari Vajpayee is still considered the most beloved politician in India. He was widely respected as a statesman both within the country and abroad. His charismatic personality has a lot more other things worth knowing. Here are some interesting facts about this erudite politician:
His ancestral village is in Bateshwar, Agra. His grandfather, Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee, had migrated to Morena in Madhya Pradesh from Bateshwar.
He was a bright student and had been awarded a first class Post Graduate Degree in Political Science.
His first activism started with Arya Kumar Sabha in Gwalior.
Before joining Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), Atal was inclined towards communism and after being influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he joined RSS in 1939 and in 1947, he became a Pracharak of RSS (technically a full-time worker).
He and his father went to the same Law College (DAV College in Kanpur) together for their Law studies and they even shared the same room in the hostel.
Atal was greatly fascinated with journalism and was always eager to become a journalist. His dream to become a journalist came true when he was sent to Uttar Pradesh to work for Deendayal Upadhyaya’s newspapersRashtradharma (a Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly) and the dailies Veer Arjun & Swadesh.
He was an ardent follower of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (founder of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh) and went on a fast-unto-death along with him in 1953 to protest against the law of carrying a permit to visit Kashmir. Atal was shattered when Mukherjee died during the protest.
In the 2nd General Elections of 1957, he contested for the first time from two constituencies- Mathura and Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh. He lost the Mathura seat to Raja Mahendra Pratap but won the Balrampur seat.
He was known all over the world for his oration skills and when he delivered his maiden speech in the Indian Parliament, Jawaharlal Nehru (the then Prime Minister of India) predicted that someday he would become the Prime Minister of India.
In 1977, he was appointed the External Affairs Minister in the Morarji Desai Government and when he entered the office of Ministry of External Affairs in the South Block, he found the portrait of Jawaharlal Nehru was missing and then he said to the staff- I want it back.
He uplifted Hindi to the international platform by speaking in Hindi at the United Nations, he became the first person to speak in Hindi at the United Nations.
He became the Prime Minister of India for three times- first time on 16 May 1996 for 13 days only, the second time on 19 March 1998 for 13 months, and third time on 13 October 1999 for a full 5-year term.
On 13 May 1998, he led the successful nuclear test named- Operation Shakti at Pokhran in Rajasthan and put India in the league of the world’s elite nuclear club. In order to build a strong relationship with Pakistan, he took a bus journey named- Sada-e-Sarhad to Lahore on 19 February 1999.
His health started deteriorating in late 2000, He underwent a knee replacement surgery in 2001 and suffered a stroke in 2009, which impaired his speech.
Besides being the most revered and beloved politician in India, he is the only Parliamentarian to be elected from 4 different Indian States- Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat.
He is considered one of the finest Hindipoets in India and in an interview, he revealed that he had no interest in politics and would always like to be a poet.
Although he was a Brahmin by birth, he loved non-veg cuisines very much. His favorite non-veg dish was Prawn and favorite restaurant was Karim in Old Delhi.
He remained an M. P. (Member of Parliament) for 47 years (11 times from Lok Sabha and 2 times from Rajya Sabha).
On 25 December 2014, the Government of India announced to honor him with India’s highest Civilian Award- Bharat Ratna and in a special gesture, President of India conferred him the award at his residence on 27 March 2015.
The freedom of the press is an integral part of Indian democracy. It is protected by the Constitution. It is guarded in a more fundamental way by our democratic culture. This national culture not only respects freedom of thought and expression, but also has nurtured a diversity of viewpoints unmatched anywhere in the world. [September 13, 2013 — Vajpayee’s speech at the 125th anniversary of The Hindu]
Persecution on account of one’s beliefs and insistence that all must accept a particular point of view is unknown to our ethos. [September 13, 2013 - at 125th anniversary of The Hindu]
Education, in the truest self of the term, is a process of selfdiscovery. It is the art of self-sculpture. It trains the individual not so much in specific skills or in specific branch of knowledge, but in the flowering of his or her latent intellectual, artistic and humanist capacities. The test of education is whether it imparts an urge for learning and learnability, not this or that particular set of information. [December 28, 2002 - inaugural speech of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the University Grants Commission]
The Pokhran-2 nuclear tests were conducted neither for selfglorification, nor for any display of machismo. But this has been our policy, and I think it is also the policy of the nation, that there should be minimum deterrence, which should also be credible. This is why we took the decision to conduct tests. [In Parliament on the 1998 nuclear tests]
You can change friends but not neighbours. [In Parliament in May 2003]
One cannot wish away the fact that before good neighbours can truly fraternise with each other, they must first mend their fences. [June 23, 2003 - At Peking University]
If I break the party and forge new alliances to come to power, then I will not like to touch that power even with a pincer. [While replying to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha in 1996]
We should strive hard to ensure that every R&D rupee brings greater benefits to the nation.
Mutual suspicions and petty rivalries have continued to haunt us. As a result, the peace dividend has bypassed our region. History can remind us, guide us, teach us or warn us; it should not shackle us. We have to look forward now, with a collective approach in mind. [Talking on South Asia at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad January 2004]
We in India are inheritors to a great civilisation whose life chant has been “Shanti” — that is, Peace — and “Bhaichara” — which means, Brotherhood. India has never been an aggressor nation, a colonizer or a hegemon in her long history. In modern times, we are alive to our responsibility to contribute to peace, friendship and cooperation both in our region and around the world. [31 January 2004 - PM’s speech at inauguration of Global Convention on Peace and Non-violence].
Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, health care, skills enhancement, political participation at all levels from the local to the global, access to natural resources, clean water and air, and advancement of one’s own culture and social organisation. [25 September 2003 - address at 58th Session of UN General Assembly]
Gun can solve no problem; brotherhood can. Issues can be resolved if we move forward guided by the three principles of Insaaniyat (humanism), Jamhooriyat (democracy) and Kashmiriyat (Kashmir’s age old legacy of amity). [April 23 2003, Vajpayee in Parliament on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir].