Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (often wrongly spelt Behari; अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी in Devnagari) (born December 25, 1924) was the Prime Minister of India in 1996 and again from October 13, 1998 until May 19, 2004.

The Janata Phase

While the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had strong constituencies of support, it failed to dislodge the Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi's winning vast majorities in 1969 and 1971 only diminished other political parties.

Related Topics:
Indian National Congress - Indira Gandhi

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In 1974 when PM Gandhi imposed a state of Emergency, the RSS and BJS joined a wide-array of parties in opposing the suspension of elections and civil liberties. Vajpayee was briefly jailed during the Indian Emergency.

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When Indira Gandhi called elections in 1977, the BJS joined the Janata coalition wholeheartedly, a vast collage of regional groups, socialist, communist and right-wing forces. Janata swept the polls and formed the next government. Under Prime Minister Morarji Desai, Vajpayee took office as the Minister for External Affairs. His friend Lal Krishna Advani took charge of the Union Ministry for Information and Broadcasting.

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In a tenure lasting just 2 years, Vajpayee achieved major milestones. He went on a historic visit to China in 1979, normalizing relations with that Asian giant for the first time since the 1962 war. He also visited Pakistan and initiated normal dialogue and trade relations that were frozen since the 1971 War and political instability in both countries. This was particularly surprising for a man perceived as a hard-right Hindu nationalist at the time. Minister Vajpayee represented the nation at the International Disarmament Conference, where he defended the national nuclear program (India had become the 6th nuclear power in the world with one underground nuclear test in Pokhran in 1974), the centerpiece of national security in the Cold War world, especially as China was a nuclear power. Although he resigned in 1979 when the Government politically attacked the RSS, he had established his credentials as an experienced statesman and respectable political leader.

Related Topics:
China - Pakistan - International Disarmament Conference - Pokhran

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