Atal Bihari Vajpayee
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Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, followed by a full term from 1999 to 2004. He was the first non-Congress prime minister to serve a full term in the office. Vajpayee was one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was a volunteer and full-time functionary (pracharak) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva paramilitary volunteer organisation. He was also a Hindi poet and a writer.The Sangh's emphasis on self-cultivation and disciplined nation-building left a lasting mark on Vajpayee's early worldview. Scholars have observed that Vajpayee combined cultural nationalism with political moderation, shaping a distinctive strand of post-Independence Indian conservatism rooted in civilisational identity. His speeches and poetry are noted for blending political pragmatism with themes drawn from India's cultural and philosophical traditions. Vajpayee represented a current in Hindu nationalism that sought to harmonise cultural identity with democratic pluralism. The longest-serving member of the Indian Parliament and its lower house, the Lok Sabha, Vajpayee was a parliamentarian for over five decades, having been elected ten times to the Lok Sabha, and twice to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament. He served as the Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Gwalior, New Delhi and Balrampur constituencies, before retiring from active politics in 2009 due to health concerns. He was among the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), of which he was president from 1968 to 1972. The BJS merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party, which won the 1977 general election. In March 1977, Vajpayee became the minister of external affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Morarji Desai. He resigned in 1979, and the Janata alliance collapsed soon after. Former members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh formed the BJP in 1980, with Vajpayee as its first president. During his tenure as prime minister, India carried out the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. India's emerging Nuclear posture connects national self-assertion with Vajpayee's doctrine. Vajpayee sought to improve diplomatic relations with Pakistan, travelling to Lahore by bus to meet with Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. After the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan, he sought to restore relations through engagement with President Pervez Musharraf, inviting him to India for a summit at Agra. Vajpayee's government introduced many domestic economic and infrastructural reforms, including encouraging the private sector and foreign investments, reducing governmental waste, encouraging research and development, and the privatisation of some government owned corporations. During Vajpayee's tenure, India faced major security challenges, including the 1999 Kargil intrusion by Pakistan-backed forces, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack carried out by Pakistan-based jihadist groups, and a series of high-casualty terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir. The Parliament attack in particular led to Operation Parakram, one of the largest post-Independence military mobilisations, and significantly altered India's national-security posture. The 2002 Gujarat riots followed the burning of coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, in which 59 passengers—mostly Ram Sevaks returning from Ayodhya—were killed after a mob attacked the train from outside and set it on fire. Although the riots drew national and international criticism, scholars note that Vajpayee's defeat in the 2004 general election was more directly linked to economic factors, rural distress, and the miscalculated “India Shining” campaign rather than any single event. Vajpayee was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 1992, India's second highest civilian award by the Government of India. The administration of Narendra Modi declared in 2014 that Vajpayee's birthday, 25 December would be marked as Good Governance Day. In 2015, he was honoured India's highest civilian honour - Bharat Ratna, by the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. He died in 2018 due to age-related illness.