Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born December 25, 1924) was the Prime Minister of India, briefly in 1996, and again from October 13, 1998 until May 19, 2004. He retired from active politics in December 2005, but still comments and participates on national debates of policy, welfare and defence.He is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Hindu Nationalism in Indian politics. He has served as a member of the Parliament of India for nearly 50 years. He is also a poet, writing in his native language, Hindi.
Early Life
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a native of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and has been active in Indian politics throughout his adult life (as a member of parliament, he has often resided in Delhi). He holds a masters degree in political science and was educated at the Victoria College, Gwalior (now Laxmibai College) and DAV College, Kanpur. He is also a poet and writer, and has published several volumes of poetry, essays and speeches. He has been described as a follower of the guru Sathya Sai Baba. Vajpayee is a bachelor and has the adopted daughters of Mr. and Mrs. B. N. Kaul, Nandita (Nanni) and Namita (Gunu). Nandita is a doctor residing in the US and is married to Ashok Nanda, a software engineer. Namita, who resides in Delhi, is married to Ranjan Bhattacharya and they have a daughter.Vajpayee's niece, Karuna Shukla, is a member of parliament from Chattisgarh and a vice-president of the BJP. His nephew, Anoop Mishra, is an MLA in Madhya Pradesh, and another nephew, Deepak Vajpayee, is a party worker. In a tragic and heavily publicized turn of events, his grand-nephew Manish Mishra was thrown out of a moving train whilst trying to defend girls from eve-teasing towards the end of Atal's tenure.
Early Political Career
Vajpayee involvement in politics began as a freedom-fighter during the Quit India Movement of 1942-1945, initially adhering to Communism, but shedding that for membership in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an organization propounding Hindutva, or Hindu Nationalism and considered Far Right-Wing in Indian politics.He became a close follower and aide to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the leader of the right-wing, pro-Hindu Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS). Vajpayee was at Mookerjee's side when he went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir in 1953, to protest the identity card requirement and what he claimed was the "inferior" treatment of Indian citizens visiting Kashmir, and the special treatment accorded to Kashmir because it had a Muslim majority. Mookerjee's fast and protest ended the identity card requirement, and hastened the integration of Kashmir into the Indian Union. But Mookherjee died after weeks of weakness, illness and confinement in jail. These events were a watershed moment for the young Vajpayee. Taking the baton from Mookerjee, Vajpayee won his first election to the parliamentary in 1957. As the leader of BJS, he expanded its political appeal, organization and agenda. In spite of his youth, he soon became a respected voice in the opposition - one of reason and intelligence. His broad appeal brought respect, recognition and acceptance to a rising nationalist cultural movement.
The rise of BJP
Vajpayee resigned from government with Morarji Desai's resignation as prime minister, and the Janata coalition dissolved soon after. The BJS had devoted political organization to sustain the coalition and was left exhausted by the internecine wars within Janata.Atal Bihari Vajpayee, along with many BJS and RSS colleagues, particularly his long-time and close friend Lal Krishna Advani, formed the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980 as the new home of Hindutva, right-wing social and economic ideas and nationalism. Vajpayee became its founding President. The BJP was a strong critic of the Congress government, and while it strongly opposed the Sikh militancy that was rising in the state of Punjab, it also blamed Indira Gandhi for divisive and corrupt politics that fostered the militancy at national expense. Leader Darasingh opines that Vajpayee thus "brought in Hindu-Sikh harmony".
Although supporting Operation Bluestar, the BJP strongly protested the violence against Sikhs in Delhi that broke out in 1984 following the assassination of Prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The BJP won only two parliamentary seats in the 1984 elections, in which the Congress party led by Rajiv Gandhi (son of Indira Gandhi) won in a historic landslide. The BJP however had established itself in the mainstream of Indian politics, and soon began expanding its organization to attract younger Indians throughout the country. During this period Vajpayee remained center-stage as party President and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, but increasingly hard-line Hindu nationalists began to rise within the party and define its politics.
The BJP became the political voice of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Movement, which was led by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the RSS, and was seeking to build a temple dedicated to Lord Rama at the site of the Babri mosque in the city of Ayodhya. Hindu activists believed the site was the birthplace of the Lord, and thus qualified as one of the most sacred sites of Hinduism.
On December 6, 1992, hundreds of VHP and BJP activists broke down an organized protest into a frenzied attack on the mosque. By the end of the day, the mosque had crumbled to pieces. Over the following weeks, waves of violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted in various parts of the country, killing over 10,000 people. The VHP organization was banned by the government, and many BJP leaders including Lal Krishna Advani were arrested briefly for provoking the destruction. Although widely condemned by many across the country for playing politics with sensitive issues, the BJP won the loyalty and support of millions of conservative Hindus, as well as national prominence.
Prime Minister of India
Political energy and expansion made BJP the single-largest political party in the Lok Sabha elected in 1996. Mired down by corruption scandals, the Congress was at a historic low, and a vast medley of regional parties and break-off factions dominated the hung Parliament. Asked to form the government, A.B. Vajpayee was sworn in as prime minister, but the BJP failed to gather enough support from other parties to form a majority. Vajpayee resigned after just 13 days, when it became clear that he could not garner a majority. After a third-party coalition governed India between 1996 and 1998, the terribly divided Parliament was dissolved and fresh elections held. These elections again put the BJP at the head. This time, a cohesive bloc of political parties lined up with it to form the National Democratic Alliance, and A.B. Vajpayee was sworn in as the prime minister. The NDA proved its 286 vote majority in a narrow vote of confidence. Towards the end of 1998 however, the AIADMK under J.Jayalalitha withdrew its support from the 13-month old government. The government lost the ensuing vote of confidence motion by a single vote. As the opposition was unable to come up with the numbers to form the new government, the country returned to elections with Vajpayee remaining the "care-taker prime minister". After the election in 1999, Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time. The coalition government that was formed lasted its full term of 5 years – the only non-Congress government to do so.His premiership began at a decisive phase of national life and history: the Congress Party, dominant for over 40 years, appeared irreparably damaged, and fractious regional parties seemed to threaten the very stability of the nation by continually fracturing government work.
Life and Legacy
A.B. Vajpayee's BJP and the National Democratic Alliance were expected to pick up more seats and score a major victory in the 2004 elections. The parliament was dissolved earlier than necessary in order to capitalize on the national economic boom and improved security and cultural atmosphere.A vigorous BJP campaign did its best to highlight the major progress achieved, and win the votes of the traditionally averse Muslims for the BJP candidates. Controversial and ideological issues were side-stepped in favor of bread-butter economic issues. But by the time the first three phases of voting were over, it was clear that the BJP was losing too many important seats to retain a formidable position in Parliament. The BJP and its flagship coalition, the NDA, lost almost half their seats in parliamentane several prominent cabinet ministers were defeated, and regional, socialist and Communist parties quickly grouped round the resurgent Indian National Congress led by Sonia Gandhi to form a left-of-center United Progressive Alliance, which formed the government under Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
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