Atal Bihari Vajpayee Biography

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Biography

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who was known for his cultural restraint, liberalism and political rationality. He became the Prime Minister of India three times - in 1996, when he gave his tenure for 13 days, for eleven months in 1998 and the third time in 1999 for a full term of five years. It was during his tenure that India successfully conducted nuclear tests in Pokhran and renewed expectations of peace between India and Pakistan with the start of the New Delhi-Lahore bus service. His government has so far been the only non-Congress government to remain in power for five years. Besides being an experienced politician and an excellent parliament, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was also a famous poet and was a very popular personality in the political spectrum.

He was honoured with the highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna of India in 2015. Modi government has declared its birthday, e will be celebrated on December 25 as a good governance day. Vajpayee died on August 16, 2018, due to prolonged illness.

Let's know about him:-

Childhood:-

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee in the middle-class Brahmin family. His father was a poet and a school teacher. Vajpayee had his schooling from the Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Gwalior. Later, he studied at Victoria College, Gwalior - now graduating from Laxmi Bai College. It was in Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Kanpur that Vajpayee completed the postgraduate degree in Political Science.

Young Age:-

After joining Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a worker in 1939, Vajpayee became a campaigner (full-time worker) in 1947. He also worked for Nationality Hindi Monthly, Panchangya Hindi weekly and daily newspaper Swadesh and Veer Arjun.

Vajpayee decided to remain a graduate for whole life. He has adopted the daughter of friend Prince Kaul and BN Kaul for a long time and raised him as his child.

 With elections in 1984, BJP had established itself as an important political party in Indian politics. After the 1996 general elections, Vajpayee was sworn in as India's 10th Prime Minister, where BJP emerged as the largest party in the Lok Sabha. However, the government could not get support from other parties to get the majority, only after 13 days, ,the government fell. He thus became the lowest serving prime minister in India.

The BJP-led coalition government came to power in 1998 as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Vajpayee again took oath as the Prime Minister. Vajpayee's second term as Prime Minister is known for his nuclear tests conducted in May 1998 in Pokhran Desert in Rajasthan. Vajpayee also pressured Pakistan for the the peace process. He inaugurated the historic Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999. They also tried to solve the Kashmir dispute and other conflicts with Pakistan.

But Pakistan removed India by launching Kargil war, in which Pakistani soldiers entered Kashmir Valley and captured the border hill around Kargil town.

Under Operation Vijay, Indian Army units fought Pakistani intruders in extremely cold weather and tremendous artillery shells between treacherous mountainous terrain and finally emerged victorious. However, Vajpayee's government lasted 13 months when All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) withdrew support to the government in mid-1999.

In the following elections, however, the NDA came back with a full majority and Vajpayee was able to complete five years (1999-2004) in office for the first time as non-Congress PM. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister of India for the third time on October 13th, 1999.

However, during their third term, India saw the yield of militants in December 1999, the flight of Indian Airlines Flight IC 814 from Kathmandu to New Delhi was abducted and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan. To safeguard the freedom of the passengers to the government, Joule had to release terrorists, including Maulana Masood Azhar. On the bright side, the Vajpayee Government introduced many economic and infrastructure reforms, including encouraging the the private sector and foreign investment. It also launched National Highway Development Projects and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. Vajpayee adopted a pro-business, open market reform approach to promote India's economic development.

In March 2000, Vajpayee signed the historic vision document during the visit of theU.S. President Bill Clinton. The announcement included several strategic issues in addition to pitching, besides expanding trade and economic relations between the two countries.

During the Agra summit with the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Atal Bihari Vajpayee tried to pacify Pakistan, but the talks failed to achieve any success because Musharraf had refused to leave the Kashmir issue.

On December 13, 2001, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime also attacked the Indian Parliament, when Pakistan-backed terrorists attacked Parliament House in Delhi. He was eventually implicated in his efforts by Indian security forces.

After the Godhra train tragedy, in 2002, when the communal riots broke out in Gujarat, Vajpayee had a problem as a PM

Awards:-

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (far-right) join hands with the Liberation War award

He has won Padma Vibhushan in 1992.

He has won D Lit from Kanpur University in 1993.

He has won Lokmanya Tilak Award in 1994.

Best Parliamentary Award in 1994.

He has won Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind.    He has won Vallabh Pant Award in 1994.

He has won Bharat Ratna in 2015.

He has won Liberation War Award in 2015.

(Bangladesh Muktijudho Sanmanona)