Atal Bihari Vajpayee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (with a bouquet of lotus flowers - the party symbol of the BJP)

Atal Bihari Vajpayee ( Hindi : अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी , Aṭal Bihārī Vājpeyī ; born December 25, 1924 in Gwalior , Princely State of Gwalior ; †  August 16, 2018 in New Delhi ) was an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) , a member of the lower house of the Indian Parliament and several times Indian Prime Minister .

Life

Origin and CV

Vajpayee came from a north Indian Brahmin middle class family. He attended Victoria College (now Lakshmibai College ) in his native Gwalior, where he graduated in Hindi , English and Sanskrit . He then studied political science at DAV College in Kanpur , where he received an MA . He began to study law, which he did not complete due to his increasing political and journalistic activities. In 1941 he joined the Indian National Congress , which at that time was still led by Mahatma Gandhi . In 1942 he was temporarily imprisoned for his involvement in the "Quit India" movement , which was directed against British colonial rule . In the following years he worked as a journalist and editor of various newspapers ( Rashtra Dharma in Lucknow , Panchajanya , Chetna in Varanasi , Dainik Swadesh in Lucknow and Veer Arjun in Delhi).

During his youth he came into contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and was active in the youth organization of the Arya Samaj . After India's independence in 1947, Vajpayee was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh , founded by Syama Prasad Mukherjee , in 1951 , and became its secretary. Vajpayee won his first parliamentary mandate for the Lok Sabha in 1957 in the constituency of Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh . In the election in 1962 , he lost it, but it was 1967 again win. In the 1971 election he was elected to Lok Sabha in the Gwalior constituency, in 1977 and 1980 in the New Delhi constituency, and in 1991 , 1996 and 1998 in the Lucknow constituency.

Vajpayee (far right) as Indian Foreign Minister during President Carter's state visit to India on January 1, 1978 (second from right: Rosalynn Carter , next to Prime Minister Desai )

Vajpayee, who was considered an inspiring speaker, was the leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh faction in the Lok Sabha between 1957 and 1977 and its party president between 1968 and 1973. During the time of the state of emergency 1975-77 , Vajpayee was imprisoned along with many other opposition politicians. After the Bharatiya Jana Sangh united with other parties to form the Janata Party (JNP) in 1977 , Vajpayee took leading positions in the new party. After the Janata Party's electoral victory in the 1977 election , he became Foreign Minister in the newly formed Janata Party government . In this capacity, he gave a speech to the United Nations General Assembly for the first time not in English but in Hindi. In 1979 he resigned from the ministerial office due to ideological internal party differences in the Janata Party. In 1980 he founded the Bharatiya Janata Party with other like-minded people, namely Lal Krishna Advani and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat , of which he remained party president until 1996. From 1993 to 1997 he was opposition leader in the Lok Sabha .

Vajpayee remained unmarried all his life. Since the 1970s, he lived with the Kaul family, whom he had known from school in Gwalior, in a shared house in Delhi. After the death of her husband, Rajkumari Kaul ran his household and he officially adopted their two daughters. Vajpayee was also active as a poet privately and published several volumes of Hindi poetry. At public events, he occasionally read poems he had composed himself.

Terms of office as prime minister

During his time as prime minister, Vajpayee gained considerable prestige at home and abroad, even beyond the borders of his own party, as he pursued a moderate and balancing course, contrary to the sometimes radical Hindu-nationalist rhetoric of his party. Vajpayee was seen as “the right man in the wrong party” by many Indians suspicious of the BJP.

May 16 to 31, 1996

After the BJP emerged from the parliamentary elections in 1996 as the strongest political force , Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister on May 16, 1996 and charged with forming a government. However, since he could not find a majority for his government, he submitted his resignation at the end of the month.

1998 to 1999

In the early elections in 1998 , the BJP was able to expand its leadership role and Vajpayee became Prime Minister of a coalition government consisting of parties from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

In May 1998 India carried out nuclear tests, which were justified with reference to the Chinese threat ( attack on China in 1962 ). Primarily, however, India pursued an international status upgrade with the tests, which should also underpin the equality with China. Two weeks later, Pakistan tested nuclear weapons for the first time. The conflict with Pakistan that flared up again found a new climax in the Kargil War of 1999.

In May 1999 the AIADMK withdrew from the coalition government, whereupon it lost the majority. After a vote of confidence that was lost, new elections were scheduled for October.

1999 to 2004

Vajpayee with President Putin on January 6, 2001
Vajpayee in the Oval Office with President George W. Bush on November 9, 2001

In the October 1999 elections, the BJP-led NDA and its supporting parties won 303 out of 543 possible seats in the House of Commons. This comfortable majority enabled the Vajpayee government to rule until the end of its five-year term. The following reign was marked by further economic liberalization and increasing economic growth in India. India's international weight increased, which was also reflected in several trips abroad by the Prime Minister. Vajpayee continued to try to relax relations with Pakistan, which led to a summit meeting in Agra on May 14-16. July 2001 with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf , who was considered to be the main initiator of the Kargil conflict. However, the positions on the Kashmir issue proved to be irreconcilable. However, the riots in Gujarat in 2002 cast a shadow over the Vajpayee government , in which around 1,000 people were killed as a result of religiously motivated violence. The then Chief Minister of Gujarat and fellow party member Vajpayees Narendra Modi was given considerable complicity in the violence because of his passive attitude. Vajpayee later admitted his own mistakes in handling the affair.

In the parliamentary elections that began on April 20, 2004 , Vajpayee's NDA was the big favorite. However, there was a surprise election victory for the Congress party and Vajpayee resigned from his executive offices. The leader of the Congress party Sonia Gandhi , who was considered the most likely successor, renounced the post of prime minister she had been offered because she had been exposed to hostility because of her Italian origins. Instead, he was succeeded on May 20, 2004 by the former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh .

After 2004

Vajpayee withdrew from active politics at the end of 2005, but remained a member of the Lok Sabha until 2009. In the last years of his life, Vajpayee, who had long been suffering from diabetes mellitus , was increasingly plagued by health problems. In 2009 he suffered a stroke that largely deprived him of the ability to speak and confined him to a wheelchair. Since then he has been under almost constant medical supervision. In 2015 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna .

death

Funeral procession on August 17, 2018 in New Delhi

On June 11, 2018, 93-year-old Vajpayee was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi with symptoms of a urinary tract infection and multiple organ failure . He died there two months later on August 16. After the news of his death was announced, politicians from various political directions in India expressed their condolences. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a seven-day state mourning. Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi described Vajpayee as " a towering figure" who stood for democratic values. Numerous politicians from other Indian parties, including left-wing parties and communists, made similar views.

On August 17, 2018, Vajpayee's body was cremated in Delhi after a lengthy public funeral procession .

Web links

Commons : Atal Bihari Vajpayee  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The Vajpayee cabinet: All old timers minus one. rediff.com, October 13, 1999, accessed November 7, 2014 .
  2. ^ Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A statesman who juggled both personal and political spheres. The New Indian Express, August 17, 2018, accessed August 18, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Vajpayee, the peerless poet and politician, turns 88. firstpost.com 25 November 2011 called on November 7, 2014 (English).
  4. ↑ India's Prime Minister Vajpayee in Germany. suedasien.info, May 31, 2003, accessed November 7, 2014 .
  5. ^ Vajpayee, the right man in the wrong party. msn.com, August 12, 2009, accessed November 7, 2014 .
  6. ↑ Harbaksh Singh Nanda: India's Vajpayee: Right you, wrong party. upi.com, May 14, 2004, accessed November 7, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Sukumar Muralidharan: Agra summit labor over Kashmir - Vajpayee, Musharraf yield nothing in verbal match. The Hindu, July 17, 2001, accessed November 7, 2014 .
  8. ^ Vajpayee admits mistake over Gujarat. CNN, April 30, 2002, accessed November 7, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Akshaya Mukul: A peek into the life Atal Bihari Vajpayee now leads. The Times of India, March 26, 2014, accessed June 5, 2015 .
  10. ^ Vajpayee turns 88 amid health concerns. zeenews.india.com, December 23, 2011, accessed June 5, 2015 .
  11. ↑ A look at Bharat Ratna, Padma awardees 2015. The Hindu, March 30, 2015, accessed June 5, 2015 (English).
  12. ↑ Bindu Shajan Perappadan: Atal Bihari Vajpayee stable; treatment continues. In: The Hindu. June 12, 2018, accessed August 17, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Atal Bihari Vajpayee Dies: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Dies At Age 93
  14. ↑ Atal Bihari Vajpayee death: Tributes pour in. The Hindu, August 16, 2018, accessed on August 16, 2018 (English).
  15. ↑ Atal Bihari Vajpayee death reactions LIVE: Subcontinent has lost visionary political figure today, says Imran Khan. The Indian Express, August 16, 2018, accessed August 16, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Atal Bihari Vajpayee cremated, daughter Namita lights funeral pyre. Business Standard, August 17, 2018, accessed August 18, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Vajpayee, Atal Bihari
ALTERNATIVE NAMES अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी (Hindi)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian politician and prime minister
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Gwalior , Princely State of Gwalior
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 2018
Place of death New Delhi