Vajpayee to be conferred with Bharat Ratna

Atal Bihari Vajpayee – the most accepted leader

Vajpayee was the first person from Sangh, who became the Prime Minister of India. AB Vajpayee is not only remembered for his oratory skills but is looked upon as a Statesman across the world. Apart from being a great leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be remembered for his one of the most riveting speech he delivered on the floor of the Lok Sabha in 1996 during the Confidence vote of his 13-day-old BJP Government when it was on the verge of collapse.


In fact, Vajpayee was so good at politics that he turned negativity of Parliament during his speech in his favour. An excerpt from his speech:

“I have spent decades doing this, but today I have been at the receiving end of much personal criticism… I thank the mere four parties that stood by me, including the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal, despite everyone else ganging up against us… I have been accused that I am craving for power and that my actions are a result of my craving for power… If the people have given my party the highest number of seats should I shy away from staking a claim for power… Should I run away from the battlefield to betray the confidence reposed by the people in making us the single largest party…?

If one goes to decipher the speech then one will understand that the portion of the speech was directed to the political opportunism of the Congress, the Left parties and the regional parties, which came together to stop the BJP and Atal Bihari Vajpayee at all costs, even going to the extent of labelling him as ‘Hitler’.

In fact, he went ahead in Parliament stating, “Say clearly and directly that you will not let me assume power at any cost… The bogey of Hitler is being raised in this House, I am being labelled fascist… I have been at this for four decades, I have fought this fight democratically, contesting elections and I am being accused of adopting fascist methods… This is politics of negativism, this is reactionary politics, this is politics to stop us at any cost by making untouchables of us – this is not healthy politics…”

Some Facts about AB Vajpayee :-

AB Vajpayee was always associated with the RSS from a very young age and was asked to work with the political affiliate of the Jan Sangh in early 1950s.

He was mentored by Jan Sangh founders like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

Vajpayee was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957 from Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh and impressed many with his oratorical skills. In fact, after the sudden demise of his mentor Deen Dayal Upadhyay, he was given the responsibility along with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and LK Advani.

Impressed with his work, he was soon made the president of Jan Sangh for the first time in 1968.

He became the Minister of External Affairs in the Janata Government in 1977.

However, in the run up to the 1996 General Elections, LK Advani declared Vajpayee as BJP’s PM candidate. The BJP emerged as the single largest party and Vajpayee was sworn-in as the Prime Minister but failed to garner numbers in 13 days, following which he had to tender his resignation.

But once again, the opportunity beckoned in 1998, this time the BJP could achieve numbers in the Lok Sabha. But again with the AIADMK withdrawing support after 13 months, Vajpayee had to call elections in 1999.

And finally in 1998, Vajpayee was sworn-in again as PM with TDP lending outside support to. Under PM Vajpayee the country progressed and after the nuclear test at Pokhran, he emerged as the liberal and acceptable face of the BJP and led the country during the Kargil war.

In fact, he went ahead and attempted to make peace with Pakistan by launching bus trip to Lahore and then invited Pakistani’s military dictator General Pervez Musharraf for Agra Summit, which are attributed the high points in his foreign policy. As the leader of the country, AB Vajpayee never shied away from making his point clear.

However, 2004 was the last election he contested as he slowly withdrew from active politics.