New Delhi – Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee adored by millions of Indians and respected for his ideals by almost all Indian political leaders died today at 5.05 pm (Indian time) at the AIIMS Hospital at New Delhi.
Vajpayee aged 93 had the unique distinction of being the first Prime Minister from BJP party. He was also responsible for making India a nuclear superpower by testing a nuclear bomb in Pokhran which was conducted under the supervision of ABJ Abdul Kalam who would become the President of India in later years.
Vajpayee served as Prime Minister on 3 different occasions. He became Prime Minister for a term of 13 days in 1996 and his term of office ended abruptly when he could not prove majority in Parliament.
From 1998 to 1999 he was the Prime Minister for a period of 11 months. This time his government was overthrown by mere one vote in Parliament and AIADMK leader late Jayalalithaa was singled out as the leader who was responsible for his downfall as PM as she pulled out her support for the coalition led by him.
Later from 1999 to 2004, he served for a full term as Prime Minister largely due to his success in handling the Cargill war with Pakistan.
He also had the distinction of forming alliances with DMK and AIDMK on different occasions. It was a political feat indeed as these two Tamil Nadu parties had always avoided forming an alliance with BJP fearing it would hurt the feelings of Tamil Nadu’s Muslim and Christian population but it was Vajpayee’s leadership and neutrality which saw these two Dravidian parties joining hands with him.
In 2015 he was conferred the Bharath Ratna award, the highest civilian award awarded by the Indian government.
