India’s Three-Time PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee Dead At 93
The Hindu nationalist started IndiaPakistan nuclear arms race then began peace process
Three-time Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee died on Thursday, sparking tributes from across the political spectrum as current leader Narendra Modi mourned the “irreplaceable loss” of the respected statesman.
The 93-year-old had battled poor health for years but his condition deteriorated sharply in
recent days, with doctors placing him on life support. The sudden turn sparked a flurry of visits from top dignitaries, including Mr Modi, who credited Vajpayee with laying the foundations for the meteoric rise of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that rules India today. “Atal Ji’s passing away is a personal and irreplaceable
loss for me,” Mr Modi said in a tweet on Thursday, using a Hindi-language honorific.
“It was Atal Ji’s exemplary leadership that set the foundations for a strong, prosperous and inclusive India in the 21st century. It was due to the perseverance and struggles of Atal Ji that the BJP was built brick by brick.” Mr Vajpayee was being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, where he was admitted nine weeks ago.
“Unfortunately, his condition deteriorated over the last 36 hours and he was put on life support systems. Despite the best efforts, we have lost him today,” AIIMS said. Mr Vajpayee will be cremated Friday in the Indian capital with full state honours, BJP chief Amit Shah said.
‘A great son’
The former journalist and poetturned-politician was one of the few opposition lawmakers inside parliament when India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, still held office. His more than five-decade-long career peaked in the 1990s, when his masterful oratory attracted tens of thousands of people to his rallies across the country.
He also became the first nonCongress leader since India’s independence in 1947 to complete an entire term in office as head of a BJP-led ruling alliance between March 1998 and May 2004. Mr Vajpayee’s often conciliatory tone, and poetic jibes directed at opponents, were popular on both sides of the political divide.
He was ousted in 2004 elections by the Congress Party led by Sonia Gandhi, which selected Manmohan Singh as PM.
His role in India-Pakistan nuclear arms race
Vajpayee’s government helped ramp up tensions in South Asia by declaring India a nuclear-armed state after successful weapons tests in 1998 that drew sanctions from the west.
The tests prompted tit-for-tat tests by arch-rival Pakistan and sparked concerns about a nuclear conflict in the region.
Months later, in early 1999, he embarked on a historic bus ride to the Pakistani city of Lahore and met then-premier Nawaz Sharif in a bid to ease tensions.
But his peacemaker image was shattered later that year when Pakistan-backed forces pressed over the disputed Kashmir border, sparking a deadly conflict. He withdrew from the public eye after a BJP-led alliance suffered a shock election defeat in 2004.