Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born into a middle-class
family in Gwalior. His father was Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, a school teacher and
poet, and his mother was Krishna Devi. He attended the Saraswathi Shishu Mandir
and later went to Victoria College from where he graduated with distinction in
Hindi, English and Sanskrit. He enrolled at DAV College, Kanpur to complete his
post-graduation and earned his M.A. in Political science. He was a patriot at
heart and participated in India’s struggle for freedom even as a student and
edited several nationalist Hindi newspapers.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a highly respected veteran
politician who had served as the Prime Minister of India in three
non-consecutive terms. He was a member of the Indian Parliament for almost five
decades; in fact, he was the only parliamentarian who had been elected from
four different states at different times, namely, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. He made his foray into politics during the
pre-independence era when he took part in the Quit India Movement which led to
his arrest and imprisonment. A true patriot, he was one of the founding members
of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh, an Indian nationalist party.
A multi-faceted personality, he was a very skilled
poet with several published poems. Also well-known is his love for his native
language Hindi—he was the first person to deliver a speech in Hindi at the U.N.
General assembly. He was very famous for his oratory skills and held several
prestigious positions in Indian politics before being elected the Prime
minister. His first stint as the Prime Minister of India lasted for just 13
days. He was again sworn in for the second time after a couple of years. This
time too, his government lasted for just over a year. His third stint as the
Prime Minister was his most successful one and he served a full term of five
years in this position.
Atal ji was suffering from urinary tract infection
and chest congestion and he died on 16 August 2018.
Swetha Narayan - Columnist.
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