The Legend of Atal Bihari Vajpayee the Statesman
Preface
Yesterday when the news flashed, I was shocked. It came as a personal loss to me as Atalji has a connection with us through my deceased father. After my fathers demise in 2009, I was left with his memory and teachings. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a revered person to my father and he used to follow his speech and political movements very closely. He used to discuss and criticize Atalji's alliances before elections with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and with AGP in Assam. He used to analyze and declare that this ploy would destroy the good work done by Vajpayee Government. To my astonishment, I could see the exact result as predicted by my father regarding the elections then. Needless to say, my father was a genius of a great mettle only known to a very few close relatives and friends. Atalji was around the age of my father and a great honest man as experienced by many. As a young Indian I fell in love with his simplicity and sheer hardwork that was in sync with my own father.
Though a very clever politician of his time, still, Atalji miscalculated a few ploys of his government in the final stages of his third tenure as PM which resulted in a very narrow defeat. Whether it was the early dissolution of the Lok Sabha or the alliance with wrong parties is still deplorable. But, the development wagon wheel moved by this untiring Prime Minister has helped India in achieving many of its present success. Many projects like Golden Quadrilateral, PM Gram Sadak Yojana etc took off well in time and many projects like the River Interlinking Project faded in thin air after the defeat of his government. This article about Atalji is a mere attempt to relive his life once again.
Early
life and education
The most popular, witty Prime Minister of India Atal
Bihari Vajpayee was born to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25
December 1924 in Gwalior. He was born in British India and had the opportunity to live with the British colonialism politics. His
grandfather, Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee, had migrated to Morena, Gwalior from his ancestral village
of Bateshwar, Uttar
Pradesh. His father, Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, was a school
teacher in his hometown as well as a poet. Vajpayee did his schooling from
the Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Gwalior. He subsequently attended Gwalior's
Victoria College (now Laxmi Bai 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.
Recently, his Childhood friend
Man Rakhan Mishra told reporters of a Hindi News paper Amar Ujala about the
childhood days of Atalji. This might change the perspective of seeing him for
many people. His friend told that, “Atalji was the youngest in his home, so he
used to try his authority on me(Man Rakhan Mishra). He used to stand on the window
side of my home and call me by my pet name “Munna”. Even after becoming PM he
used to put his hand on my shoulders and talk to me.”
Atalji’s childhood friend also
narrated one story about him. Atalji used to take his friends to church on
25 December and tell them, “See how people are firing canons to celebrate my
birthday.”Atalji was actually referring to the canons being fired those days to
celebrate Christmas. During National Conference of BJP in 1988 in Agra, people
welcomed him with flower petals. He later took jibe at people, “People of Agra
can wound you by flowers.”Such was his humour.
His activism started with Arya Kumar Sabha of Gwalior, the
youth wing of the Arya Samaj, of which he
became the general secretary in 1944. He also joined the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a swayamsevak in 1939. Influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he attended the Officers
Training Camp of the RSS during 1940–44 and became a pracharak, RSS
terminology for a a full-time worker, in 1947. He gave up studying law due to
the partition riots. He was sent as a Vistarak, a
probationary Pracharak, to Uttar Pradesh and quickly began working
for the newspapers of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Rashtradharma (a
Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a
Hindi weekly) and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun.
Early
political career (1942–1975)
Though he was only 16 years old, by 1942
Vajpayee was already an active member of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh, In
August 1942 he and his elder brother Prem were arrested for 23 days during
the Quit India Movement. He
was released after giving a written undertaking, expressly declaring that they
would not participate in the anti-British struggle.
In 1948, the RSS was banned for its alleged role in
the assassination of
Mahatma Gandhi. In 1951, he was seconded by the RSS,
along with Deendayal Upadhyaya, to
work for the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a
right-wing political party. He was appointed as a national secretary of the
party in charge of the Northern region, based in Delhi. He soon became a
follower and aide of party leader Syama Prasad
Mukherjee. In 1954, Vajpayee was with Mukherjee when he went on
a fast-unto-death in Kashmir to protest against perceived
inferior treatment of non-Kashmiri Indian visitors to the state. Mookerjee died
in prison during this strike. In 1957, Vajpayee lost to Raja Mahendra Pratap in Mathura for
the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament of India, but
was elected from Balrampur. There, his
oratory skills so impressed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that he predicted that
Vajpayee would someday become India's Prime Minister.
By virtue of his oratorical and organizational skills, he
became the face of the Jana Sangh. After the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the
mantle of the leadership of Jana Sangh fell on the shoulders of young Vajpayee.
He became the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 and, along
with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and L. K. Advani, led the Jana Sangh to national
prominence.
Political career (1975–1995)
In 1975, Vajpayee was arrested
along with several other opposition leaders during the Internal Emergency imposed by Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress party.
Following Janata Party's victory
in the 1977 general elections, he became
the Minister of External Affairsin
Prime Minister Morarji Desai's cabinet. As foreign minister, that year
Vajpayee became the first person to deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in
Hindi.
Foreign
Minister Vajpayee (far right) and Prime Minister Morarji Desai (3rd
from right, front
row) with US President Jimmy Carter during his 1978 visit to
India.
By 1979 the Janata
government crumbled but, Vajpayee had established himself as an experienced
statesman and a respected political leader by then.
The Janata Party was dissolved
soon after Morarji Desai resigned as Prime Minister in 1979. The Jana Sangh had
devoted its political organisation to sustain the coalition and was left
exhausted by the internal political wars within the Janata Party.
Vajpayee joined many of his
Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh colleagues, particularly
his long-time friends L. K. Advani and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, to form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980.
He became the BJP's first President. He emerged as a strong critic of the Congress (R) government that followed
the Janata government.
While the BJP opposed the Sikh militancy that
was rising in the state of Punjab,
it also blamed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her "divisive and corrupt
politics that fostered such militancy at the expense of national unity and
integrity." The BJP was left with only two parliamentary seats in the 1984
elections. During this period, Vajpayee remained at the centre-stage as
party President and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament.
The BJP became the political
voice of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Movement, which was led
by activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the
RSS, and which sought to build a temple dedicated to Lord Rama in in his
birthplace Ayodhya.
Victory in the assembly
elections in Gujarat and Maharashtra in
March 1995, and a good performance in the elections to the Karnataka assembly
in December 1994, propelled the BJP to greater political prominence. During a
BJP conference in Mumbai in November 1995, BJP President L. K. Advani declared
that Vajpayee would become the Prime Minister of India. The BJP won in
the May 1996 parliamentary elections.
Vajpayee as Prime Minister
Between 1996 and 2004, Vajpayee
served as the Prime Minister of India in three
non-consecutive terms.
First term: May 1996
The BJP grew in strength in the
early 1995 riding on pro-nationalistic sentiments. In the 1996 general elections, the BJP emerged as
the single largest party in the Lok Sabha. The then president Shankar Dayal Sharma invited Vajpayee
to form the government. Vajpayee was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister of
India, but the BJP failed to muster enough support from other parties to
obtain a majority. He resigned after 13 days, when it became clear that he could
not garner a majority.
Second term: 1998–1999
After the fall of the two United Front governments between 1996 and
1998, the Lok Sabha was dissolved and fresh elections were held. The 1998 general elections again put the
BJP ahead of others. This time, a cohesive bloc of political parties joined the
BJP to form the National Democratic Alliance (NDA),
and Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister.
The NDA proved its majority in
the parliament. The government lasted 13 months until mid-1999 when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK) under Jayalalithaa withdrew
its support to the government. The government lost the ensuing vote of
confidence motion in the Lok Sabha by a single vote on 17 April 1999. As
the Opposition was unable to come up with the numbers to form the new
government, the Lok Sabha was again dissolved and fresh elections were held.
Vajpayee remaining the Prime Minister until the elections were held.
India's self declaration as a Nuclear Power
Pokhran-II
Inspite of growing pressure from international community to abandon its nuclear programme, India continued to strengthen it's nuclear capability. The CIA and other foreign agencies were in constant monitoring against India's nuclear adventure. But inspite of all odds and in complete secrecy India moved on. In May 1998, India conducted
five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran desert
in Rajasthan,
24 yrs after India conducted its first nuclear test (Smiling
Buddha) in 1974. This test is called Pokhran-II.
The tests were held just a month after the government had been in power. Two
weeks later, Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests making it the newest
declared nation with nuclear weapons.
“Today, at 15:45 hours, India
conducted three underground nuclear tests in the Pokhran range. The tests
conducted today were with a fission device, a low yield device and a
thermonuclear device. The measured yields are in line with expected values.
Measurements have also confirmed that there was no release of radioactivity
into the atmosphere. These were contained explosions like the experiment
conducted in May 1974. I warmly congratulate the scientists and engineers who
have carried out these successful tests.”
While some nations, such as
Russia and France, endorsed India's right to defensive nuclear power, others
including the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain and the European
Union imposed sanctions on information, resources and
technology to India. In spite of the intense international criticism and the
steady decline in foreign investment and trade, the nuclear tests were popular
domestically. Effectively the international sanctions failed completely in
swaying India's decision to weaponize their nuclear capability (especially as
US sanctions against India and Pakistan were lifted after just six months),
something that was planned for and anticipated by the Vajpayee administration.
The
Lahore summit
In late 1998 and early 1999,
Vajpayee began a push for a full-scale diplomatic peace process with Pakistan.
With the historic inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February
1999, Vajpayee initiated a new peace process aimed towards permanently
resolving the Kashmir dispute and other conflicts with Pakistan. The
resultant Lahore Declarationespoused a commitment to
dialogue, expanded trade relations and mutual friendship and envisaged a goal
of denuclearised South Asia. This eased the tension created by the 1998 nuclear
tests, not only within the two nations but also in South Asia and the rest of
the world.
The Vajpayee-led government was
faced with two crises in mid-1999. The AIADMK had continually threatened to
withdraw from the coalition and national leaders repeatedly flew down from
Delhi to Chennai to pacify the AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha. However, in May
1999, the AIADMK did pull the plug on the NDA, and the Vajpayee administration
was reduced to a caretaker status pending fresh elections scheduled for October 1999.
Kargil War
It was revealed that militants
and non-uniformed Pakistani soldiers (many with official identifications
and Pakistan Army's custom weaponry) had
infiltrated into the Kashmir Valley and captured control of border hilltops,
unmanned border posts and were spreading out fast. The incursion was centred
around the town of Kargil, but also included the Batalik and Akhnoor sectors
and artillery exchanges at the Siachen
Glacier.
Indian army units were swiftly
rushed into Kashmir in response. Operation Vijay, launched in June 1999, saw
the Indian military fighting thousands of militants and soldiers in the midst
of heavy artillery shelling and while facing extremely cold weather, snow and treacherous
terrain at the high altitude. Over 500 Indian soldiers were killed in the
three-month-long Kargil War, and it is estimated around 600-4,000 Pakistani
militants and soldiers died as well. India pushed back the Pakistani militants
and Northern Light Infantry soldiers.
Almost 70% of the territory was recaptured by India. Vajpayee sent a
"secret letter" to US President Bill Clinton that
if Pakistani infiltrators did not withdraw from the Indian territory, “we will
get them out, one way or the other” - meaning he did not rule out crossing
the Line of Control (LoC), or was the use of nuclear weapons.
After Pakistan suffered heavy
losses, and with both the United States and China refusing to condone the
incursion or threaten India to stop its military operations, General Musharraf was
recalcitrant and Nawaz Sharif asked the remaining militants
to stop and withdraw to positions along the LoC. The militants were not willing
to accept orders from Sharif but the Northern Light Iinfantry soldiers withdrew. The
militants were killed by the army or forced to withdraw in skirmishes which
went beyond the announcement of withdrawal by Pakistan. The victory in Kargil
bolstered the image of Vajpayee and he was hailed across the country for his
bold and strong leadership. On 26 July 2012, designated as 'Kargil Vijay
Diwas', BJP President Nitin Gadkari unveiled a wax statue of
Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Mumbai. The statue was later put up at a wax museum in
Lonavala.
Third
term: 1999–2004
In the 1999 general elections, the BJP-led NDA
won 303 seats out of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, in the aftermath of the
Kargil operations, thereby securing a comfortable and stable majority. On 13
October 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee took oath as Prime Minister of India for the
third time.
Indian Airlines hijack
A national crisis emerged in
December 1999, when Indian Airlines flight IC 814 from Kathmandu to
New Delhi was hijacked by five terrorists and flown to Taliban-ruled
Afghanistan. The hijackers made several demands including the release of
certain terrorists like Masood Azhar from
prison. Under extreme pressure, the government ultimately caved in. Jaswant Singh,
the Minister for External Affairs at the time, flew with the terrorists to
Afghanistan and exchanged them for the passengers.
A.B. Vajpayee meeting US President
George W Bush in White House in 2001
National highway project, foreign policy
and economic reforms
During his administration,
Vajpayee introduced many domestic economic and infrastructural reforms,
including encouraging the private sector and foreign investments, reducing
governmental waste, encouraging research and development and privatisation of
some government owned corporations. The UPA Government on 1 July 2013
accepted before Supreme Court that National Democratic Alliance Government led
by Vajpayee has developed half the roads in last 32 years in their 5-year term.
Vajpayee's
pet projects were the National Highways Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
In March 2000, Bill Clinton,
the President of the United States, paid a state visit to India. His was the
first state visit to India by a US President in 22 years. President Clinton's
visit to India was hailed as a significant milestone in the relations between
the two countries. Since the visit came barely two years after the Pokhran
tests, and one year after the Kargil invasion and the subsequent coup in
Pakistan, it was read to reflect a major shift in the post Cold War
foreign policy of the United States.
The Indian Prime Minister and the U.S. President discussed strategic issues,
but the major achievement was a significant expansion in trade and economic
ties. The Historic Vision Document on the future course of relations between
the two countries was signed by Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Clinton
during the visit.
Domestically, the BJP-led
government was under constant pressure from its ideological mentor, the RSS,
and the hard-line VHP to enact the their agenda. But owing to its
dependence on coalition support, it was impossible for the BJP to push items
like building the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya, repealing Article 370 which
gave a special status to the state of Kashmir, or enacting a uniform civil code applicable to adherents
of all religions. On 17 January 2000, there were reports of the RSS and some
BJP hard-liners threatening to restart the Jan Sangh, the precursor to the BJP,
because of their discontent over Atal Bihari Vajpayee rule. Former president of
the Jan Sangh, Balraj Madhok, had written a letter to the then RSS chief, Rajendra Singh for support. The
BJP was, however, accused of saffronising (saffron being the
colour of the flag of the RSS, symbol of the Hindu nationalism movement) the
official state education curriculum and apparatus. Also, Home Minister L.K.
Advani and Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi were indicted in the
1992 Babri Mosque demolition case
for inciting a mob of activists. Vajpayee himself came under public scrutiny
owing to his controversial speech one day prior to the mosque demolition. The
RSS also routinely criticised the government for free-market policies which
introduced foreign goods and competition at the expense of 'swadeshi'
industries and products.
Vajpayee's administration earned
the ire of many trade unions and government workers for its aggressive campaign
to privatise government owned corporations. Vajpayee promoted pro-business,
free market reforms to reinvigorate India's economic transformation and
expansion that were started by the former PM Narasimha Rao but
stalled after 1996 due to unstable governments and the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Increased
competitiveness, extra funding and support for the information technology
sector and high-tech industries, improvements in infrastructure, deregulation
of trade, investments and corporate laws —- all increased foreign capital
investment and set in motion an economic expansion.
These couple of years of reform
however were accompanied by infighting in the administration and confusion
regarding the direction of government. Vajpayee's weakening health was also a
subject of public interest, and he underwent a major knee-replacement surgery
at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai to
relieve great pressure on his legs.
In March 2001, the Tehelka group
released the sting operation video named Operation West End showing videos of the
BJP President Bangaru Laxman, senior army officers and NDA members accepting
bribes from journalists posing as agents and businessmen. The Defence
Minister George Fernandes was forced to resign
following the Barak Missile scandal, another scandal
involving the botched supplies of coffins for the soldiers killed in Kargil,
and the findings of an inquiry commission that the Government could have
prevented the Kargil invasion.
Vajpayee again broke the ice in
the Indo-Pak relations by inviting Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf to Delhi and Agra for a joint summit
and peace talks. His second major attempt to move beyond the
stalemate involved inviting the man who had planned the Kargil invasions. But
accepting him as the President of Pakistan, Vajpayee chose to
move forward. But after three days of much fanfare, which included Musharraf
visiting his birthplace in Delhi, the summit failed to achieve a breakthrough
as President Musharraf declined to leave aside the issue of Kashmir.
In 2001, the Vajpayee government
launched the famous Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which aimed at
improving the quality of education in primary and secondary schools.
2001 attack on Parliament
On 13 December 2001, a group of
masked, armed men with fake IDs stormed the Parliament House in Delhi. The
terrorists managed to kill several security guards, but the building was sealed
off swiftly and security forces cornered and killed the men, who were later
proven to be Pakistan nationals. Coming just three months after the September 11 attacks upon the United
States, this fresh escalation instantly enraged the nation. Although the Government of Pakistan officially
condemned the attack, Indian intelligence reports pointed to a conspiracy
rooted in Pakistan.
Prime Minister Vajpayee ordered
a mobilisation of India's military forces, and as many as 500,000 servicemen
amassed along the international boundary bordering Punjab,
Rajasthan, Gujarat and Kashmir. Pakistan responded with the same. Vicious
terrorist attacks and an aggressive anti-terrorist campaign froze day-to-day
life in Kashmir, and foreigners flocked out of both India and Pakistan, fearing
a possible war and nuclear exchange. For as long as two years, both nations
remained perilously close to a terrible war.
The Vajpayee administration also
passed the ordinance Prevention of Terrorism Ordnance
which was later passed as Prevention of Terrorism Act against
vigorous opposition of non-NDA parties. This was a draconian law which was
aimed at nipping the bud of terrorist activities. Human rights groups have
condemned the act which gives wide authority to the government to crack down
and hold anybody. Its repeal was advocated by human rights organisations.
But the biggest political
disaster hit his government between December 2001 and March 2002: the VHP held
the Government hostage in a major standoff in Ayodhya over the Ram temple. At
the 10th anniversary of the destruction of the Babri mosque, the VHP wanted to
perform a Shila Daan, or a ceremony laying the foundation stone of
the cherished temple at the disputed site. Tens of thousands of VHP activists
amassed and threatened to overrun the site and forcibly build the temple. A
grave threat of not only communal violence, but an outright breakdown of law
and order owing to the defiance of the government by a religious organisation
hung over the nation. But to the relief of Vajpayee, his government was able to
tide over this crisis rather smoothly.
2002 Gujarat violence
In 2002, Hindu-Muslim violence
in the state Gujarat killed more than 1,000 people. Vajpayee officially
condemned the violence. K. R. Narayanan, then president of India, also blamed Vajpayee's
government for failing to quell the violence.
Remainder of term
In late 2002 and 2003 the
government pushed economic reforms, and the country's GDP growth accelerated at
record levels, exceeding 6–7%. Increasing foreign investment, modernisation of public
and industrial infrastructure, the creation of jobs, a rising high-tech and IT
industry and urban modernisation and expansion improved the nation's
international image. Good crop harvests and strong industrial expansion also
helped the economy.
The government reformed the tax
system, increased the pace of reforms and pro-business initiatives, major
irrigation and housing schemes and so on. The political energies of the BJP
shifted to the rising urban middle-class and young people, who were positive and
enthusiastic about the major economic expansion and future of the country. He
faced stiff opposition from other equally strong organisations in the Sangh Parivar such
as the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. However, he
continued with his aggressive economic reform policy.
In August 2003, he announced
before the parliament his "absolute last" effort to achieve peace
with Pakistan. Although the diplomatic process never truly set-off immediately,
visits were exchanged by high-level officials and the military stand-off ended.
The Pakistani President and Pakistani politicians, civil and religious leaders
hailed this initiative as did the leaders of America, Europe and much of the
world. In July 2003, Prime Minister Vajpayee, visited China, and met with
various Chinese leaders. He recognised Tibet as a part of
China, which was welcomed by the Chinese leadership, who in the following year,
recognised Sikkim,
as a part of India. China–India relations improved
greatly in the following years.
In November–December 2003, the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won three major state elections, fought mainly on
development issues, without ideological campaigns. A major public relations
campaign was launched to reach out to Muslims and stop the 2002 communal riots controversy
from haunting the party's future. But the attention of the media and of
millions now moved from Vajpayee to his more possible successor, L. K. Advani,
although the question was never directly raised or contested in any way.
Vajpayee's age, failing health and diminished physical and mental vigour were
obvious factors in such speculation.
Advani assumed greater
responsibilities in the party, and although no perceivable conflict has been
known to arise between the longtime friends and political colleagues, several
embarrassing statements were made. Once Vajpayee said "Advani would lead
the BJP in the elections," prompting Advani to clarify that he would
merely lead the election campaign, not the party. And then the BJP
President Venkaiah Naidu used mythological
references to depict Vajpayee as Vikas Purush (Man of
Progress) and Advani as Loh Purush(Iron Man).
As the BJP prepared for general
elections in 2004, Vajpayee was still the choice of the BJP and of the wider
NDA, for the Prime Minister's job.
On 29 June 2002 Atal Bihari
Vajpayee while dedicating his collection of poems translated in Tamil,
recalled his friendship with C. N.
Annadurai and claimed that he was not opposed to Hindi and
appreciated Vajpayee's language skills. Annadurai however, was against imposition
of the language.
2004 general election
The NDA was widely expected to
retain power after the 2004 general election. The 13th Lok
Sabha had been dissolved before the completion of its term to
capitalise on the perceived 'feel-good factor' and BJP's recent successes in
the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The BJP hoped to capitalise on the slogan "India Shining" and
released many ads touting the economic growth of the nation.
However, the coalition lost almost
half of its seats, with several prominent cabinet ministers being defeated. The
Indian National Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi,
became the single largest party and, along with many minor parties, formed
the United Progressive Alliance. With the
conditional support of the leftist parties from the outside, the UPA formed a government
under Manmohan Singh. Vajpayee resigned as Prime
Minister and promised co-operation to the new government. Accepting
moral responsibility for the defeat, he decided not to take up the position of
the Leader of the Opposition and passed on the leadership mantle to L. K. Advani.
However, he retained his post as Chairman of the NDA.
Post-premiership
In December 2005, Vajpayee
announced his retirement from active politics, declaring that he would not
contest in the next general election. In a famous statement at the BJP's silver
jubilee rally at Mumbai's Shivaji Park,
Vajpayee announced that "Henceforth, Lal Krishna Advani and Pramod
Mahajan will be the Ram-Laxman [the two godly brothers much
revered and worshipped by Hindus] of the BJP."
Vajpayee was referred to as
the Bhishma
Pitamah of Indian politics by former Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh during a speech in the Rajya Sabha,
a reference to a mythological figure in the Hindu epic Mahabharata who
was held in respect by two warring sides.
Vajpayee was hospitalised at
AIIMS for a chest infection and fever on 6 February 2009. He was put on
ventilator support as his condition worsened but he eventually recuperated and
was later discharged. Unable to participate in the campaign for the 2009 general electiondue to his poor
health, he wrote a letter urging voters to back the BJP. His protege Lalji Tandon was
able to retain the Lucknow seat even
though the NDA suffered electoral reverses all over the country. The tall
apolitical image of Vajpayee was said to be the main reason behind Lalji's
success in Lucknow even though the BJP's performance was poor elsewhere
in Uttar Pradesh.
Personal life
Vajpayee remained a bachelor his
entire life. He adopted Namita Bhattacharya, the daughter of BN Kaul and
Rajkumari Kaul.
He was fond of Indian music and
dance. He loved nature and one of his favourite retreats was Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
He was a published poet, and
with regard to his poetry he wrote, "My poetry is a declaration of war,
not an exordium to defeat. It is not the defeated soldier's drumbeat of
despair, but the fighting warrior's will to win. It is not the despirited voice
of dejection but the stirring shout of victory."
Death
Vajpayee
suffered a stroke in 2009 which impaired his speech. His health had been a
major source of concern. Reports said he was confined to a wheelchair and
failed to recognise people. He also suffered from dementia and long-term
diabetes. For many years, he had not attended any public engagements and rarely
ventured out of the house, except for checkups at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences. On 11 June
2018, Vajpayee was admitted to AIIMS in critical condition.
The legendary politician left
for the heavenly abode on 16 August 2018 just the day after India celebrated
it’s 72nd Independence day. He breathed his last at AIIMS hospital
at 1705 pm even after untiring efforts by a team of well qualified doctors to
restore him. Billion people are saddened by the demise of this great leader who
did his best only to strengthen our country and help it become a Vishwa Guru.
May his pious soul attain Nirvana.
Awards
·
1992, Padma
Vibhushan
·
1993, D. Lit. from Kanpur University
·
1994, Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind
Vallabh Pant Award
·
2015, Bharat Ratna
·
2015, Bangladesh
Liberation War honour (Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sanmanona)
Positions
held
·
1951 – Founder-Member,
Bharatiya Jana Sangh (B.J.S)
·
1957 – Elected to 2nd Lok Sabha
( 1st term )
·
1957–77 – Leader, Bharatiya
Jana Sangh Parliamentary Party
·
1962 – Member, Rajya Sabha
·
1966-67- Chairman, Committee on
Government Assurances
·
1967 – Re-elected to 4th Lok
Sabha (2nd term)
·
1967–70 – Chairman, Public
Accounts Committee
·
1968–73 – President, B.J.S.
·
1971 – Re-elected to 5th Lok
Sabha (3rd term)
·
1977 – Re-elected to 6th Lok
Sabha (4th term)
·
1977–79 – Union Cabinet
Minister, External Affairs
·
1977–80 – Founder- Member,
Janata Party
·
1980 – Re-elected to 7th Lok
Sabha (5th term)
·
1980-86- President, Bharatiya Janata
Party (B.J.P.)
·
1980-84, 1986 and 1993–96 –
Leader, B.J.P. Parliamentary Party
·
1986 – Member, Rajya Sabha;
Member, General Purposes Committee
·
1988–90 – Member, House
Committee; Member, Business Advisory Committee
·
1990-91- Chairman, Committee on
Petitions
·
1991– Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha
(6th term)
·
1991–93 – Chairman, Public
Accounts Committee
·
1993–96 – Chairman, Committee
on External Affairs; Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha
·
1996 – Re-elected to 11th Lok
Sabha (7th term)
·
16 May 1996 – 31 May
1996 – Prime Minister of India
·
1996–97 – Leader of Opposition,
Lok Sabha
·
1997–98 – Chairman, Committee
on External Affairs
·
1998 – Re-elected to 12th Lok
Sabha (8th term)
·
1998–99 – Prime Minister of
India; Minister of External Affairs; and also in charge of
Ministries/Department not specifically allocated to the charge of any Minister
·
1999 – Re-elected to 13th Lok
Sabha (9th term)
·
13 Oct.1999 to 13 May 2004– Prime
Minister of India and also in charge of the Ministries/Departments not
specifically allocated to the charge of any Minister
·
2004 – Re-elected to 14th Lok
Sabha (10th term)
Works
Social and political
·
National
Integration (1961)
·
Dynamics of an
Open Society (1977)
·
New Dimensions
of India's Foreign Policy (1979)
·
Heal the
Wounds: Vajpayee's appeal on Assam tragedy to the Parliament (1983)
·
Kucha Lekha,
Kucha Bhashana (1996)
·
Sekyularavada:
Bharatiya Parikalpana (Da. Rajendra Prasada Smaraka Vyakhyanamala)(1996)
·
Bindu-Bindu
Vicara (1997)
·
Rajaniti ki
Rapatili Rahem (1997)
·
Back to Square
One (1998)
·
Decisive Days (1999)
·
Sakti Se Santi (1999)
·
Vicara-Bindu (Hindi Edition, 2000)
·
Nayi Chunauti,
Naya Avasara (Hindi Edition, 2002)
·
India's
Perspectives on ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Region (2003)
Books
·
India's Foreign
Policy: New Dimensions (1977)
·
Assam Problem:
Repression no Solution (1981)
·
Atal Bihari Vaj
Mem Tina Dasaka (1992)
·
Pradhan Mantri
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ke Chune Hue Bhashana (2000)
·
Values, Vision
& Verses of Vajpayee: India's Man of Destiny (2001)
·
National
Integration (1961)
·
Dynamics of an
Open Society (1977)
·
Kucha Lekha,
Kucha Bhashana (1996)
·
Sekyularavada:
Bharatiya Parikalpana (Da. Rajendra Prasada Smaraka Vyakhyanamala)(1996)
·
Rajaniti ki
Rapatili Rahem (1997)
·
Back to Square
One (1998)
·
Decisive Days (1999)
·
Sakti Se Santi (1999)
·
India's
Perspectives on ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Region (2003)
Poetry
·
Meri Ikyavana
Kavitaem (1995)
·
Meri Ikyavana
Kavitaem (Hindi Edition, 1995)
·
Sreshtha Kabita (1997)
·
Nayi
Disha – An Album with Jagjit Singh (1995)
·
Kya Khoya Kya
Paya: Atal Bihari Vajapeyi, Vyaktitva Aur Kavitaem (Hindi Edition, 1999)
·
Samvedna –
An Album with Jagjit Singh (1995)
·
Twenty-One
Poems (2003)
Comments
Post a Comment