Biography
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (Hindi: अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी in Devanagari) (born December 25, 1924) was the Prime Minister of India in 1996 and again from October 13, 1998 until May 19, 2004.
He is the senior-most 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 a native Hindi speaker.
Early Life and Family
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 the distinction of being a well-educated politician, having earned a masters degree in political science from the Victoria College (now Laxmibai College) and DAV College. He is well-known for being a poet, and has published a book of poetry. He is a bachelor, and has adopted daughters of Mrs & Mr. B. N. Kaul: Nandita (Nanni) and Namita (Gunu). Nandita is a doctor in US and Namita lives in Delhi. Nandita is married to Ashok Nanda, a software engineer and Namita is married to Ranjan Bhattacharya and has a daughter.
Early Political Career
He began his involvements in politics 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, the foundation of Hindutva, or Hindu Nationalism and the Right-Wing in Indian politics. He became a student, close follower and aide to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the leader of the right-wing, pro-Hindu Bharatiya Jana Sangh. When Mookherjee went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir in 1953, protesting the id card requirement and inferior treatment of Indian citizens visiting Kashmir, and the special treatment of Kashmir just because it was Muslim-majority, Vajpayee was close his side. Mookherjee's fast and protest ended the id requirement, and hastened the integration of Kashmir into the Indian Union. But Mookherjee died after weeks of weakness, illness and being confined in jail. These events were a watershed for the young Vajpayee. Taking the baton from Mookherjee, Vajpayee won his first parliamentary seat in 1957. Leading the BJS, he expanded its political appeal, organization and agenda. He soon became a respected voice in the opposition, one of reason and intelligence despite his youth. His broad appeal brought respect, recognition and acceptance in the mainstream of a rising nationalist cultural movement.
Vajpayee has served in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and represented the constituencies of Lucknow and Gwalior.
Prime Minister of India, Twice
Political energy and expansion for the BJP made it 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 make a majority. Vajpayee was forced to resign after just 13 days, when it was clear there could be no majority. After a third-party coalition ruled between 1996 and 1998, the terribly divided Parliament was dissolved and fresh elections again put the BJP on the front. 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, and the NDA proved its 286 vote majority in a narrow vote of confidence.
Vajpayee strode into a decisive phase of national life and history: the Congress Party, dominant over 40 years, had fallen into ignominy, and warring, corrupt and fractious regional parties threatened the very stability of the nation by continually fracturing government work. The failed third-party coalition presented two years of chaos and pure incompetence. No visible and inspiring leaders showed amidst a myriad of confusion, and a struggling economy dampened the hopes of the whole nation. With terrorism strong in Kashmir and the Northeastern states, and with the inherent national problems of poverty, illiteracy, corruption and unemployment plaguing uniformly, it was the worst period in free India's history.
A.B. Vajpayee faced several crises while heading a fractious coalition. Tamil Nadu's AIADMK party continually threatened, on one point or the other, to withdraw support from the coalition, exhausting the Government before it could take off. In a situation comic and tragic as well, national leaders had to fly down from Delhi to Chennai to pacify the AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha.
But Prime Minister Vajpayee also earned praise for strong leadership in this chaotic period.
The Janata Phase
While the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had strong constituencies of support, it failed to dislodge the Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi's winning vast majorities in 1969 and 1971 only diminished other political parties.
In 1974 when PM Gandhi imposed a state of Emergency, the RSS and BJS joined a wide-array of parties in opposing the suspension of elections and civil liberties. Vajpayee was briefly jailed during the Indian Emergency.
When Indira Gandhi called elections in 1977, the BJS joined the Janata coalition wholeheartedly, a vast collage of regional groups, socialist, communist and right-wing forces. Janata swept the polls and formed the next government. Under Prime Minister Morarji Desai, Vajpayee took office as the Minister for External Affairs.
In a tenure lasting just 2 years, Vajpayee achieved major milestones. He went on a historic visit to China in 1979, normalizing relations with that Asian giant for the first time since the 1962 war. He also visited Pakistan and initiated normal dialogue and trade relations that were frozen since the 1971 War and political instability in both countries. This was particularly surprising for a man perceived as a hard-right Hindu nationalist at the time. Minister Vajpayee represented the nation at the International Disarmament Conference, where he defended the national nuclear program (India had become the 6th nuclear power in the world with one underground nuclear test in Pokhran in 1974), the centerpiece of national security in the Cold War world, especially as China was a nuclear power. Although he resigned in 1979 when the Government politically attacked the RSS, he had established his credentials as an experienced statesman and respectable political leader.
Pokhran, Lahore and Kargil
Prime Minister Vajpayee began his potent term of office by changing the direction of the nation completely. In May 1998, India conducted 5 absolute surprise underground nuclear weapon tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan. The 5 tests sent the desert rumbling all the way into Pakistan, and shocked and surprised the world. Two weeks later, Pakistan responded with its own nuclear testing, making it the World's newest nuclear weapons power.
It is widely speculated that the tests were planned in 1995, but Vajpayee takes credit for decisively acting on such an important issue. The first and only nuclear test India undertook was in 1974, and its nuclear ability, potential and defensive systems were unproven and undeveloped since. But Pakistan's aggressively progressing nuclear program and China's atomic and ballistic missile dominance made it essential for India to rejuvenate, modernize, expand and prepare.
The five tests took the world completely by surprise, showing not only the skill of counter-intelligence, but the leadership of PM Vajpayee, who decided to brave the worst criticism and sanctions from literally the whole world. Although nations like Russia and France endorsed India's right to defensive nuclear power, the USA, Canada, Japan, the UK and the European Union imposed sanctions on the selling of military equipment and high-tech scientific information, resources and technology to both India and Pakistan.
Although introducing the nuclear element in South Asia, PM Vajpayee's move solidified national defenses, denying Pakistan and China a major, and terrible advantage. His popularity and the BJP's prestige rose meteorically, even though the nation began braving immense criticism and a steady decline in foreign investment and trade. PM Vajpayee also advanced the ballistic missiles program of the nation, and bolstered defence modernization and spending.
PM Vajpayee also introduced many important economic and infrastructural reforms, encouraging the private sector, eradicating waste and restrictions and encouraging foreign investment, research and development and privatization of incompetent government entities. Soon in late 1998 and early 1999, Vajpayee began pushing for a full-scale diplomatic peace process with Pakistan. By visiting Lahore in with the historic inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999, Vajpayee initiated a historic new peace process to permanently resolve the Kashmir dispute and other territorial/nuclear/strategic conflicts with Pakistan. The Lahore Declaration espoused a commitment to dialogue, expanded trade relations and a goal of denuclearized South Asia, and mutual friendship. This eased much of the pressure created by the 1998 N-tests, not only between the two heavily militarized nations, but in South Asia and the world, and gave hope to hundreds of millions of Indians and Pakistanis that peace could still defeat the odds.
In May 1999 (before the Kargil War), the AIADMK finally pulled the plug on the NDA, and the Vajpayee administration was reduced to a caretaker status pending fresh elections in October. Not this, however, but another cataclysmic event, arguably the biggest challenge of Vajpayee's administration shattered this hope of a new era, when just three months later, it was revealed that thousands of terrorists and Pakistani soldiers, (albeit un-uniformed, many carried official ids and Pakistan Army custom weaponry) had infiltrated into the Kashmir Valley, capturing control of border hilltops, unmanned border posts and spreading out fast. The action was centric to the town of Kargil, but also around the Batalik and Akhnoor sectors, including firing exchanges at the Siachen Glacier.
Immediately major Army units were rushed into Kashmir. Operation Vijay, launched and fought throughout June, saw hundreds of brave soldiers fighting not only thousands of terorrists and soldiers amidst heavy artillery shelling, but extremely cold weather, snow and treacherous terrain at the highest altitude in the world. Over 500 soldiers died, and it is estimated around 600 Pakistani militants and soldiers died as well, but the hills and border posts were systematically liberated. Pakistan's army shot down two Air Force jets that were pounded the militants, and brutally killed and mutilated the body of pilot Ajay Ahuja, an act which angered literally hundreds of millions in India. But with steady Air Force support, the Army fought some absolutely heroic and legendary battles in heavy natural and military odds. The epic Battle of Tiger Hill, the most prominent and important hillpoint and post under militant contro, captured the anxiety and hope of 1 billion people as a few men climbed, charging into heavy fire but nevertheless liberating the post.
Those few hundred soldiers, the Indian Army and the Prime Minister of India were national heroes. After both the United States and China refused to condone the incursion or threaten India to stop its military operations, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted defeat and now openly asked the militants to stop and withdraw to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan was internationally exposed for this misadventure, and summarily humiliated by shady politicians and generals.
Life and Legacy, Praise and Criticism, after Elections 2004
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 to form a left-of-center United Progressive Alliance, which formed the government under Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The fact that Vajpayee attended the swearing-in of the new government despite his party's decision to boycott them symbolized the growing acrimony to come. Many criticized Vajpayee for sacrificing core issues like Hindutva and the Ram Temple, and going overboard to woo Muslims (the BJP lost the Muslim vote by a heavy margin), and even moving too early to elections. The pro-Vajpayee activists accused Narendra Modi's controversial regime in Gujarat and the obstructiveness of the Hindu hard-right VHP and RSS for the defeat. A possible factor behind the defeat was the widespread disenchantment amongst hundreds of millions of farmers, labourers and workers who were on the bottom-rung of society, mired in poverty, illiteracy and debt, and yet to cash in any benefit from the boom. While the BJP pandered to the rising middle-class of the cities, India's villages and small towns rallied behind pro-poor, socialistic political forces like the Congress.
A.B. Vajpayee expressed his anger and frustration with repeated signals of resignation and retirement. But at a high-level party meeting, he decided to give up the position of the Leader of the Opposition to his long-time friend, second-in-command and successor, Lal Krishna Advani, who also became BJP President. Always a figure of consensus, Vajpayee became Chairman of the National Democratic Alliance. It is a widespread feeling with critics, journalists and many people that Vajpayee's time at the pinnacle of national politics and the BJP, and his position as the obvious BJP choice for Prime Minister is steadily fading. Vajpayee himself is taking more backseat roles and responsibilities, and his health ailments limit his ability to deal with the premier position in national life.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 6 years at the Prime Minister's Office led to a major transformation and expansion of the national economy. In the 1999 Kargil War, his leadership defended the country's integrity and security, while his broad-minded statesmanship in 1999, 2001 and 2004 kept the country's safety, peace and future on the high-course despite many discouraging events, failures and threats. During his 50 years as Member of Parliament, Vajpayee has established impeccable and virtually infallible credentials as a man of principle, integrity and commitment in the world of Indian politics, and as a leading visionary and statesman of the world.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee sowed the seeds and rose with the growing nationalist movement in Indian politics. For four decades he was the flag-bearer, icon and undisputed leader of the Hindu nationalist political movement, working steadily through years of defeat and desolation to foster a major national movement, broad support amongst hundreds of millions and the leadership of the World's largest democracy and most diverse nation.
Vajpayee's government is criticized over its ignorance of the issues and concerns of India's poor millions, over the famous corruption scandals, and the episodes of communal violence and rise of both Hindu and Muslim radicalism in politics. While praised for his leadership during the Kargil War and for his peace efforts with Pakistan, the Vajpayee administration is blamed for not being able to detect and prevent two serious terrorist attacks on the country, and an incursion into Indian sovereign territory.
Vajpayee led a diverse, fractious coalition to complete a full five-year term in office, be the guiding light over a collage of political chaos. He gave stability and unity when the country was the least united, and security when the country was most susceptible. This included not only the security of the borders from invasion, but of the security of 100 million families with the provision of jobs and education in a solid, hopeful economic future, and the strategic national future security.
Despite the rejection of his party in 2004, Vajpayee has retained a position of esteem and respect amongst common people seldom offered to politicians in India.
In December of 2005, Vajpayee announced his retirement, declaring that he would not participate in the next general election. At a rally in the western city of Mumbai, Vajpayee said "I will not participate in any electoral politics. There are many other leaders to take forward the work which I and other senior leaders have been doing. In a now famous statement at the BJP's silver Jubilee rally at Mumbai's historic Shivaji Park, Vajpayee announced that "from now onwards, Lal Krishna Advani and Pramod Mahajan (a BJP leader from Maharashtra, shot fatally by his own brother.) would be the Ram-Laxman (the two godly brothers much revered and worshipped by Hindus) of the BJP.
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