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Atal Bihari Vajpayee (often wrongly spelt Behari; अटल िबहारी वाजपेयी in Sanskrit) (born December 25, 1924) was the Prime Minister of India in 1996 and again from 1998 until May 19, 2004.
Vajpayee is a native of Gwalior in Indian politics throughout his adult life, though an episode from his secondary school days, when he turned "approver" in a colonial court leading to the conviction of a number of anti-British freedom fighters, returned to haunt him in the 1999 and 2004 elections.
He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a party linked to the Hindu separatist or chauvinist RSS, of which he was the president between 1968 and 1973. He was first elected to the Parliament of India in 1957 and was the leader of the Jana Sangh political party up to the formation of the Janata Party in 1977. He served as the Foreign Minister in the government of Morarji Desai from March 1977 to July 1979. In 1980, he left the Janata Party, at the prodding of the RSS which felt the Janata platform was not helping them in their quest for a Hindu chauvinist politics, and helped form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was leader of the BJP parliamentary party between 1980 and 1984, 1986 and between 1993 and 1996. He was the leader of the Opposition in the 11th Lok Sabha.
First Tenure
He became Prime Minister for the first time in 1996 as a member of the BJP and headed a short-lived 13-day government.
Second Tenure He became Prime Minister for the second time in 1998, and he was re-elected on October 13, 1999, at the head of a coalition government controlled by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which the BJP was a major component. Secular allies in the coalition forced the BJP to moderate its openly communalistic plans, though the mask dropped from the party and Vajpayee during the Gujarat violence 2002.
In 2004, Vajpayee made peace overtures to Pakistan in hopes of settling their long-running dispute over Kashmir. He called an early election in hopes of winning another term but was defeated and resigned as both prime minister and party leader on May 12, 2004. He was succeeded as prime minister by Dr. Manmohan Singh of the Congress led coalition United Progressive Alliance.
He is well-known for being a poet, and has published a book of poetry. He is a bachelor, and has an adopted daughter. He is a follower of the controversial guru Sathya Sai Baba whom he defended in a public letter.
Vajpayee with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Vajpayee made peace overtures to Pakistan and attempted to resolve the Kashmir dispute. After the NDA lost the elections in 2004, he refused the post of Leader of the Opposition and was instead elected leader of the NDA. Lal Krishna Advani, his deputy when he was Prime Minister was elected leader of the opposition. Ironically, this situation is a mirror of the situation of the ruling UPA in which Sonia Gandhi leads the UPA while Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister.
His retirement from politics has been the subject of great speculation in the media as he has hinted from time to time that he will retire soon. He has tried to retain his moderate image and made statements that have been viewed ungenerously by the party as it is now keen to re-establish its extreme Hindutva image. During his tenure, he took several steps to invite foreign investment and boost the economy.
When in office he successfully and clandestinely conducted a Nuclear test escaping detction by American surveillance. This action made India an official Nuclear Power.
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