"The flame of patriotism that has burned within you
from your college days and your rise to the highest position
in the country has inspired many of our youth. I have
long admired your oratory which gives voice to the broad
humanism guiding you in public life. " - Farooq
Abdullah ( CM, Jammu & Kashmir )
 Pokhran.
Bus to Lahore. Kargil. Call for a national debate on conversion.
Peace initiatives with the Kashmiri militants. And recently
the Teheran Declaration. We are probably witnessing one
of the most successful politician of our times. Or as
Khushwant Singh said 'more of a statesman than a politician
concerned with his own party'. Here's one leader who has
been hailed as perhaps the best ever after Jawarharlal
Nehru, as a brilliant orator with loads of political charisma
and the will to carry out his vision of India - "I
dream of a strong, prosperous India." Atal Behari
Vajpayee.
Now embarking on a third term as prime minister, Mr Vajpayee
is often described as the moderate, liberal face of the
Hindu nationalist BJP. Born in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh,
he was educated at Victoria (now Laximbai) College, Gwalior
and D.A.V. College, Kanpur. He was a very popular student
and his debating skills were famed even then. Having done
his post graduation in political science, he took up to
study law only to change tracks to become a journalist.
Had he not forayed into politics, Mr Vajpayee would have
continued with his first love - journalism. His stint
as editor of the monthly journal Rashtra Dharma, the weekly
magazine Panchjanya and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun
was distinguished by his passionate espousal of intense
nationalism laced with literary excellence. It was during
these years that he made a name for himself as a poet,
a talent which he has nourished through the rough and
tumble of politics. Old timers still recall those days
fondly when Mr Vajpayee would wield a stout pen during
the day and spend the evenings with friends, indulging
in light banter. Or walk into a cinema in Old Delhi to
watch the latest box-office hit!
 Mr
Vajpayee's formal induction into politics coincided
with the launch of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the first
genuine non-Congress party, on the eve of the first
general election in 1951. But, in a sense, it was the
Quit India movement that fired his nationalist zeal.
He was arrested in 1942 for lending his voice to the
mounting demand for freedom, little realising that 33
years later, he would make a second journey to prison
for the same reason: He was among the stalwarts whom
Mrs Indira Gandhi tried to silence, though in vain,
during the bleak days of her Emergency.
It has been a long haul since those days of idealism.
From relative obscurity, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh after
forty years in parliamentary politics, is now the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP). And if today the party can boast
of fame throughout the country, the credit goes to Mr
Vajpayee, its founder-president.
Mr Vajpayee popularity hit the charts after his short
stint as the prime minister of India in May 1996, a
job that was given to him as leader of the largest single
party in the Lok Sabha since no party had a majority
of its own. Vajpayee's 1998-99 stint as Prime Minister
has been characterised as 'one year of courage of conviction'.
It was during this period that India entered a select
group of nations following a series of successful nuclear
tests at Pokhran in May 1998. The bus journey to Pakistan
in February 1999 was widely acclaimed for starting a
new era of negotiations to resolve the outstanding problems
of the sub-continent. India's honesty made an impact
on the world community. Later, when this gesture of
friendship turned out to be a betrayal of faith in Kargil,
Vajpayee was also hailed for his successful handling
of the situation in driving out the intruders from the
Indian soil.
 It
was during Vajpayee's 1998-99 tenure that despite a
global recession, India achieved 5.8 per cent GDP growth,
which was higher than the previous year. Higher agricultural
production and increase in foreign exchange reserves
during this period were indicative of a forward-looking
economy responding to the needs of the people. "We
must grow faster. We simply have no other alternative"
has been his slogan, focussing particularly on economic
empowerment of the rural poor. The bold decisions taken
by his Government for strengthening rural economy, building
a strong infrastructure and revitalising the human development
programmes, fully demonstrated his Government's commitment
to a strong and self-reliant nation to meet the challenges
of the next millennium to make India an economic power
in the 21st century. Speaking from the ramparts of the
Red Fort on the occasion of 52nd Independence Day, he
had said, "I have a vision of India : an India
free of hunger and fear, an India free of illiteracy
and want." And along these lines come the peace
initiatives in Kashmir and India's commitment to react
in a restrained manner to the proxy war in Kashmir.
And very recently comes the Teheran Declaration, signed
on Vajpayee's recent visit to Iran, which will undoubtedly
open new avenues in the Indo-Iran relationship.
Of course he has had his share of political embarrassments
and controversies, especially the prolonged conflict
in Kargil, and in the wake of the attacks on Christians
and the brutal killing of the Australian missionary,
his call for a nationwide debate on conversions.
At the end of the day, one can only hope to catch the
essence of this hugely influential man with these words
- "True to his name, Atalji is an eminent national
leader, an erudite politician, selfless social worker,
forceful orator, poet and literateur, journalist and
indeed a multi-faceted personality... Atalji articulates
the aspirations of the masses... his words ever echo
total commitment to nationalism."
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