Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Official portrait, 1998
Prime Minister of India
In office 19 March 1998 – 22 May 2004
President	K. R. Narayanan A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Deputy	L. K. Advani (starting in 2002)
Preceded by	Inder Kumar Gujral
Succeeded by	Manmohan Singh
In office 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996
President	Shankar Dayal Sharma
Vice President	K. R. Narayanan
Preceded by	P. V. Narasimha Rao
Succeeded by	H. D. Deve Gowda
9th Union Minister of External Affairs
In office 26 March 1977 – 28 July 1979
Prime Minister	Morarji Desai
Preceded by	Yashwantrao Chavan
Succeeded by	Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra
Union Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation
In office 1 July 2002 – 22 May 2004
Preceded by	Maneka Gandhi
Succeeded by	Oscar Fernandes
In office 13 October 1999 – 1 September 2001
Preceded by	ministry opened
Succeeded by	Jagmohan
Parliamentary offices Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha In office 1991–2009 Preceded by Mandhata Singh Succeeded by Lalji Tandon Constituency Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh In office 1977–1984 Preceded by Mukul Banerjee Succeeded by K. C. Pant Constituency New Delhi, Delhi In office 1971–1977 Preceded by Ram Awtar Sharma Succeeded by N. K. Shejwalkar Constituency Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh In office 1967–1971 Preceded by Subhadra Joshi Succeeded by Chandra Bhal Mani Tiwari Constituency Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh In office 1957–1962 Succeeded by Subhadra Joshi Constituency Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha In office 1986–1991 Constituency Madhya Pradesh In office 1962–1967 Constituency Uttar Pradesh
Party political offices 1st President of the Bharatiya Janata Party In office 1980–1986 Preceded by Office established Succeeded by L. K. Advani 11th President of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh In office 1968–1972 Preceded by Deendayal Upadhyaya Succeeded by L. K. Advani
Personal details
Born	(1924-12-25)25 December 1924 Gwalior, Gwalior State, British India (present-day Madhya Pradesh, India)
Died	16 August 2018(2018-08-16) (aged 93) New Delhi, Delhi, India
Monuments	Sadaiv Atal
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party (from 1980)
Other political affiliations	Janata Party (1977–1980) Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1951–1977)
Alma mater	Victoria College, Gwalior (BA) DAV College, Kanpur,(MA)[a] The Gorkhi School, Gwalior
Occupation	Poet politician writer
Awards	Bharat Ratna (2015) Padma Vibhushan (1992)
Signature
a. ^ At the time of graduation, it was affiliated with Agra University.

This article is part of a series about Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India Early political career Honours Electoral record Eponym Good Governance Day Electoral history Premiership General elections 1996 1998 1999 2004 India Shining Union Council of Ministers First Second Third Lok Sabha Eleventh Twelfth Thirteenth National policy Legislations POTA TADA NHDP Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Treaties and accords Agra summit Lahore Declaration Missions and agencies Pokhran-II Controversies Barak Missile scandal Wars and attacks Kargil War 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff Gallery: Picture, Sound, Video
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Atal Bihari Vajpayee^[1] (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician, statesman and poet 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.^[2] 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. He was a member of the RSS, a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation. He was also a Hindi poet and a writer.^[3][4]

He was a member of the Indian Parliament for over five decades, having been elected ten times to the Lok Sabha, the lower house, and twice to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house. He served as the Member of Parliament from the Lucknow constituency, retiring from active politics in 2009 due to health concerns. He was among the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, 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 Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980, with Vajpayee its first president.

During his tenure as prime minister, India carried out the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. 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 privatisation of some government owned corporations.^[5] During his tenure, India's security was threatened by a number of violent incidents including 2001 Indian Parliament attack and 2002 Gujarat riots which ultimately caused his defeat in 2004 general election.

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.