Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a prominent Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India on three occasions: first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and finally for a full term from 1999 to 2004. He was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and co-founder of the Janata Dal political alliance. Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924, in the city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, India.
Vajpayee's political career began in the 1940s when he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization. He later joined the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of the BJP, and was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, in 1957. Over the next several decades, he rose through the ranks of the party and became a prominent leader, serving as the Minister of External Affairs in the government of Morarji Desai in 1977.
In 1984, Vajpayee was elected as the leader of the BJP and played a key role in building the party into a major political force in India. He became the first non-Congress Prime Minister to serve a full term in office when he was elected in 1996, but his government was dismissed by President Shankar Dayal Sharma after just 13 days due to lack of support in the parliament. Vajpayee returned to power in 1998 and served as Prime Minister until 2004.
During his tenure as Prime Minister, Vajpayee implemented several major economic and social reforms, including the privatization of state-owned enterprises, the liberalization of foreign investment, and the expansion of infrastructure projects such as the Golden Quadrilateral highway network. He also initiated the peace process with Pakistan and oversaw the historic Agra summit between the two countries in 2001.
Vajpayee was known for his oratorical skills and was widely respected for his statesmanship and political acumen. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor, in 2015. Vajpayee passed away on August 16, 2018, at the age of 93.