The only Bachelor Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was born on the 25th of December 1924. He is also referred to as the ‘Bhishma Pitama’ of Indian politics.
Mr. Vajpayee became the 11th Prime Minister of India in 1996, after being part of the shortest government formed. In 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became the single-largest political party in the Lok Sabha elections held in 1996, Vajpayee was elected Prime Minister, however could not gather enough support from the other parties to form a majority and had to eventually resign after just 13 days.
Since his childhood days, Vajpayee was a man of conviction and great determination. He has a master’s degree in political science from Victoria College (now Laxmibai College) and DAV College, Kanpur. He is also a celebrated poet with even a book of poetry to his credit. Vajpayee, who was once a journalist, learnt his way around the political way of living early in life. This was one of the reasons which helped him fight back his opponents and come back to power in 1998.
This tenure too was not an easy and to add a long one either. His second term lasted ironically for 13 months exactly. Vajpayee had managed to build a cohesive bloc of political parties lined p with him, however, the AIADMK led by J.Jayalalitha withdrew its support from the coalition after being 13 months in power. The government was dissolved after this and the country was sent back to elections. Till then Vajpayee was the ‘Care-taker’ Prime Minister.
During this tenure of 13 months Vajpayee had to face many hurdles as an administrator as well as a leader. The nuclear bomb tests at Pokhran and the subsequent diplomatic turmoil were handled by him with tact and vigour. The aggressive posturing of Pakistan after the tests and Pakistan’s tests after that was also an important turn of events for Vajpayee to handle.
His peace visit to Pakistan in late 1998 was seen as a magnanimous gesture on Indian Prime Minister’s part. The resultant Lahore Declaration espoused a commitment to dialogue, expanded trade relations and the goal of denuclearized South Asia, and mutual friendship. However all of this was mitigated during the Kargil war in 1999, this many believe was one of the toughest phases for any of India’s 14 Prime Ministers till date.
In those 3-4 moths, Vajpayee had to walk on a tight rope. He had to motivate the troops and keep the atmosphere in the country upbeat and at the same time keep India diplomatically relevant during and even after the war. India went on to win the war and managed to recapture what had fallen into enemy hands and still managed to keep the war limited to the Kargil region and avoided opening all the borders and turn the it into a full fledged war. This decision on India’s part was met with positive reaction from around world. This and the nuclear tests will always be counted as Vajpayee’s biggest accomplishments as a leader on the world scale.
His work is not just restricted to the global scene; the work carried forward during his tenure in terms of domestic infrastructure is also noteworthy. In 2001 he initiated the ‘Sarwa Shikhsha Abhiyan’ and is also the brains behind the golden triangle project, which was aimed at connecting every major city of India by a highway system matching global standards.
However, India also had to face a few setbacks during Vajpayee’s tenure. The IC-814 hijacking and the subsequent release of Maulana Masood Azhar was one such incident. The parliament attack in 2001 and the following standoff between India and Pakistan was another important setback.
Vajpayee later retired from active politics in 2005 and since been living out his old age peacefully with his family.
Such leaders come once in a while and the true importance of their ability and their work is only felt in the years that follow. However, the fickle mind of any human being might forget the work a man has done. Therefore it is important for us to keep our political inclinations aside and respect leaders who have done substantial work for the country and celebrate them as role models for the future generations.
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