Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an iconic Indian Politician who had served India by holding various positions during his political career. He was an acclaimed poet, journalist and public speaker.
Atalji died at the age of 93 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi at 5.05pm on 16 August 2018.
Early Life and Education
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior to Krishna Devi (mother) and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee (father). He remained unmarried for whole life but had an adopted daughter named as Namita.
Atalji had completed his schooling from Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Gorkhi, Bara, Gwalior, and graduation in Hindi, Sanskrit, and English from Gwalior’s Victoria College (now Laxmi Bai College). His post-graduation was from with an M.A. in Political Science.
Atalji had joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a swayamsevak in 1939 and became “full-time worker” (parcharak) in 1947. He had also participated in Quit India Movement in 1942. He also worked for the newspapers of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Rashtradharma (a Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly) and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun.
Atal Bihar Vajpayee had thrice served as Prime Minister of India;
- First in 1996 for the term of 13 days (Shortest serving Prime Minister of India)
- Second, from 1998 to 1999 for 11 months period; and
- Third, from 1999 to 2004 as 10th Prime Minister of India
As Prime Minister of India, his government has successfully conducted five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran desert in Rajasthan in May 1998.
The Delhi-Lahore Bus Service was also inaugurated under his government period in February 1999.
Atalji had also served as the head of Bharatiya Jana Sangh from 1968 to 1972. He was the founder of Bharatiya Janata Party which was formed in 1980. He became the first Indian Prime Minister who was not from Indian National Congress Party and had served a full five-year term.
He had served as Member of Parliament for about 50 years and was elected 10 times to Lok Sabha.
Awards and Recognition
Atalji was conferred the Bharat Ratna in 2014 which is India’s highest civilian honor by the then President of India Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. His birthday which comes on 25 December has been marked as Good Governance Day as announced by the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
He had also been awarded other Awards –
- Padma Vibhushan in 1992.
- Lit. from Kanpur University in 1993
- Lokmanya Tilak Award in 1994
- Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1994
- Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Vallabh Pant Award in1994,
- Bangladesh Liberation War honor (Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sanmanona) in 2015.
Books and Poetry–
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a renowned poet and writer and had published his books and poetry, which are mentioned in the table;
Hope this will help you to enhance your knowledge and preparation.
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