Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the elite chieftain who has been the Prime Minister of India thrice, passes away on August 16 at the age of 93. Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a topnotch big name of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Bhishma Pitamah of Indian politics -Vajpayee was hospitalized at AIIMS since June 11, under the supervision of Dr. Randeep Guleria.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a second visit to Atal Bihari Vajpayee at AIIMS wherein, Dr. Randeep Guleria sums up the health condition of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who is suffering from intricate illness. The mankind everywhere has been praying for the long life of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, since his last breath.
Apart from being an outstanding politician, Atal Bihari Vajpayee is also a renowned poet across the political spectrum. His birthday on 25th December has been declared as ‘Good Governance Day’. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born into a middle-class family in Gwalior. He earned his M.A. in Political science and was a patriot at heart and participated in India’s struggle for freedom even as a student and edited multifarious nationalist Hindi gazettes.
He joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and evolved into the national secretary of BJS in charge of the Northern region. Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1957 and rose to become the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968, which snared to greater glory. In 1977, Jana Sangh became a part of the Janata Party and Vajpayee became a Union Minister which was short-lived as he resigned from his post following the resignation of Morarji Desai in 1979.
In 1980, Vajpayee along with Lal Krishna Advani, and others from the BJS and Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) formed the Bharatiya Janata Party. By 1984 elections, the BJP had established itself as an important political party in Indian politics. Vajpayee was sworn in as the 10th Prime Minister of India following the 1996 General Elections, where the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha.
Vajpayee’s second term as PM is known for Nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran desert and renewed hopes for peace between India and Pakistan emerged with the start of the New Delhi-Lahore bus service. However, his third term saw multiple letdowns as Airlines flight IC 814 from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked and the government had to emancipate dread terrorists embodying Maulana Masood Azhar from prison to secure the freedom of passengers.
On the astute side, the Vajpayee government intervened in many economic and infrastructural reforms, which include encouraging the private sector and foreign investments. It also undertook National Highway Development Projects and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Vajpayee as PM was aggrieved when the communal clash broke out in Gujarat in 2002 after the Godhra train tragedy. The 2004 General Election downfall, made Vajpayee refused to take up the position of the Leader of the Opposition paving the way for Lal Krishna Advani’s leadership of BJP.
Vajpayee-The resilient personality who chose to stay a bachelor for whole life has countless triumphs received on the hand:
• Padma Vibhushan in 1992
• D. Lit. from Kanpur University in 1993
• Lokmanya Tilak Award in 1994
• Best Parliamentarian Award in 1994
• Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Vallabh Pant Award in 1994
• Bharat Ratna in 2015
• Liberation War award (Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sanmanona) in 2015.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, an audacious wordsmith has never failed to amaze people with his renowned flair. “One day you may become an ex-prime minister, but you will never become an ex-poet!” Vajpayee said once.
The central government has announced a period of seven-day mourning across the nation as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
“The cycle of being and not being
Will continue till eternity,
So will our illusion
That we are, we will be.”
The profound lines from his poems, which are an inspiration to the nation and truly reflects his passion and positive state of mind, he lived the life with, in a pragmatic way.
