Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away

NP NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi

93-year-old Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and one of the iconic leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), passed away after prolong illness. He was undergoing treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi for past 35 days. Since Wednesday his health was critical and since wee hours of Thursday it seems he was not responding to treatment.

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After hearing about his critical stage, his well wishers and followers started chanting before god for his speedily recovery and Post Independence Day celebration after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister Sushma Swaraj, L K Advani and other ministers and VIP dignitaries rushed to hospital.

Vajpayee was known for his political reasonableness, poet, cultural moderation and liberalism. He became PM three times and India had tested nuclear bombs at Pokhran during his tenure in 1998. He had also tried for peace with Pakistan several times and is known from his famous bus trip to Lahore. He had started the Delhi-Lahore bus service. Vajpayee led the only non-Congress government to stay in power for full five years till date. He was an outstanding Parliamentarian besides a renowned poet and a highly popular personality across the political parties. He was famous for his oratorical skills, after retirement Vajpayee lead reclusive life due to ill-health. Vajpayee chose to stay bachelor for whole life.

On Wednesday, Dr (Prof) Aarti Vij Chairperson Media and Protocal Division at AIIMS, New Delhi had issued a released mentioning last nine weeks he is at AIIMS. Unfortunately his condition has worsened over the last 24 hours. His condition is critical and he is on life support system.

Vajpayee’s early life

Born in a middle-class family to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December, 1924 in Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), his father was a poet and a school teacher. Vajpayee did his schooling from the Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Gwalior. Later, he completed graduation from Victoria College, Gwalior (now known as Laxmi Bai College). He completed PG in Political Science from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) College, Kanpur. His birthday is marked as Good Goverance Day.

He joined as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker in 1939 and became a Pracharak (full-time worker) in 1947. During his stint with RSS, Vajpayee worked for Rashtradharma Hindi monthly, Panchjanya Hindi weekly and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun.

Vajpayee’s political career

Started as a freedom fighter, he joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a Hindu right-wing party, under the leadership of Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee. He became national secretary of BJS in charge of the North India.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1957 from Balrampur as BJS candidate. He rose to become the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 and took the Jana Sangh to greater glory.

In 1975, Vajpayee had participated in the Total Revolution movement launched by Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) against the Internal Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. After the Emergency, Jana Sangh joined coalition government of the Janata Party, the grand-alliance against the Indira Gandhi government.

Vajpayee became a Union Minister (Minister of External Affairs) for the first time in 1977 when Morarji Desai-led Janata Party coalition came to power for the first time. As foreign minister, Vajpayee became the first person to deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in Hindi. His career as a minister was short-lived as he resigned from his post following the resignation of Morarji Desai in 1979. But by then, Vajpayee had established himself as a political leader.

Vajpayee along with Lal Krishna Advani, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and others from the BJS and Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) formed the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980. He was a strong critic of the Congress (I) government which came to power in 1980 after defeat of Janta Party.

Vajpayee did not support Operation Blue Star at Golden Temple. He had also raised his voice against the anti-Sikh violence after the assassination of PM Indira Gandhi in 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards.

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The BJP won two parliamentary seats in the 1984 elections. Vajpayee functioned as BJP President and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament. Known for his liberal views, Vajpayee bemoaned the demolition of the Babri Mosque on 6 December, 1992 and declared it as the BJP’s ‘worst miscalculation’.

As Prime Minister of India

Vajpayee became the 10th Prime Minister of India in 1996 but his government collapsed within 13 days. In 1998, he again came back to power and during his second stint the Nuclear tests were conducted at Pokhran. The 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan was a decisive win. Vajpayee’s government lasted only 13 months.

Once again BJP-led government National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in 1999 following elections, and Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the third time. This time his government completed full 5 years term till 2004. In December 1999, his government had released terrorists to secure the freedom of passengers of Indian Airlines which was hijacked to Afghanistan.

Vajpayee government had introduced several reforms and encouraged foreign and private investments. Vajpayee adopted pro-business, free-market reforms approach to boost India’s economic development.

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After the defeat of the NDA government in 2004, he paved the way for L K Advani to become leader of opposition in the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). He took retirement from political life in 2005.