On August 16, our nation bid farewell to one of its most prominent leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born on December 25, 1924). He held the unique honour of serving thrice as the Prime Minister of India ~first as the 10th prime minister of India for a term of 13 days in 1996, for a period of eleven months from 1998 to 1999, and then for a full term from 1999 to 2004. In 2015, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. In 2014, his birthday had been declared as Good Governance Day.
Vajpayee completed his post-graduation in Political Science, but gave up studying Law due to riots during the partition of India. Following the same, he undertook a fast-unto-death in Kashmir to protest against perceived inferior treatment of non-Kashmiri Indian visitors to the state. Later, by virtue of his oratorical and organizational skills, he came to the forefront in Indian politics, eventually emerging as one of the founders of Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980.
During his tenure as Prime Minister of India, Vajpayee initiated the National Highways Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and also spearheaded a tectonic shift in Indian foreign policy. Vajpayee’s tenure was marked by three events that had a deep impact on our nation. The first of these were the Pokhran II nuclear tests of 1998. A total of five nuclear bombs were tested in Rajasthan’s Pokhran desert just a month after the government had been in power.
The move brought criticism and economic sanctions form the rest of the world, but this had been anticipated by the Vajpayee administration. Thus, the country wasn’t affected by the economic blockade.
The second landmark of Vajpayee’s time was Kargil War of 1998-1999. Pakistani militants and soldiers had infiltrated into the Kashmir Valley around the town of Kargil. In response, Indian army launched Operation Vijay to expel the intruders. Vajpayee wrote a letter to US President Bill Clinton stating that if Pakistani infiltrators did not withdraw from the Indian territory, “We will get them out, one way or the other”.
Consequently, upon pressure form Clinton, Nawaz Sharif asked the militants to withdraw. After the victory in Kargil,Vajpayee was hailed across the country for his bold and strong leadership. After the Kargil operation, Atal Bihari Vajpayee took oath as Prime Minister of India for the third time on 13 October 1999, securing a comfortable and stable majority.
The third test of the Vajpayee government came on 24 December 1999. 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 from the Indian prison. Under extreme pressure, the government accepted their demand to save the passengers. Later, in December 2005, Vajpayee announced his retirement from active politics, declaring that he would not contest in the next general election.
Vajpayee was fond of Indian music and dance, and loved nature. Due to aging, Vajpayee’s health conditions deteriorated. He died due to age related illness at AIIMS hospital. For his contirbution to the field, Vajpayee was and is referred as Bhishma Pitamah of the Indian politics.
