Former Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a grand political sage, a benevolent soul and one of the most charismatic characters of Indian Politics.Being a towering figure, he led the nation through numerous crises while holding an unsubstantiated coalition with his comprehensive politics and unbeatable oratory.

As PM of the nation he took various decisions that have changed the perception of India at the global level. The ‘Bharat Ratna’ (Highest Social Respect in India), after becoming the PM shared his dream of building India: “Empowering the individual means empowering the nation. And empowerment is best served through rapid economic growth with rapid social change.” Not only did he dream, rather he established the same on ground in different sectors, for e.g. economic, social, infrastructure and defence.

Mr. Atal Bihari was born on 25^th Dec 1924, in Gwalior. He completed Post graduation in Political Science from DAV College, Kanpur. In 1980, Vajpayee was elected as the first president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected three times as Prime Minister of India, in 1996 (lasted for 13days), in 1998 (Lasted for 13months) and finally in 1999 Vajpayee again took the oath of PM-ship for the third time when BJP won 303/543 seats in general elections. During his last two successive PM-ships, Vajpayee had undertaken several unprecedented decisions and made them reality; which eventually reformed India in different aspects.

Infrastructure:

Vajpayee launched two ambitious projects: First, the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), widely known as the ‘Golden Quadrilateral (GQ)’ which was aspired to connect the four biggest metro cities- Delhi (N), Kolkata (E), Chennai(S) and Mumbai (W). The ‘GQ’ was later enshrined as the biggest roadways intervention in Independent India. The second grand endeavour was ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ (PGMSY) was aimed to develop all-weather road connectivity that integrated the villages through a system of world-class highways and enhanced India’s socioeconomic development. These two ventures revolutionised India’s real estate sector, commerce and the hinterland’s economy.

National Security:

One of the most significant endeavours of Mr. Vajpayee is to prioritize national security. Albeit of his short second tenure, Vajpayee took the risk of nuclear testing conducted at Pokhran in 1998 which was followed by heavy sanctions from US, EU, China. However, Vajpayee stood determined against the tirade of criticism and drafted a nuclear doctrine that outlined India’s stance and guide of future policy.

To improve Indo-Pak peace relationship, Vajpayee initiated Delhi-Lahore bus journey. Nevertheless, when Pak army and Pak- supported militants crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in winter and targeted the National Highway-1 from Kargil sector, Vajpayee led India’s effort to recover the icy heights and remained steadfast until victory against all odds during the conflict. The Indian Army evicted all trespassers, recapturing the Indian ground though ‘Operation Vijay.’ The period bolstered INAs bond with the PM and enshrined Vajpayee’s leadership and uncompromising stand against India’s National Security.

During his third tenure, Sino- Indian bilateral relations had improved with enhancement in trade and reduced territorial disputes. In 2000, Vajpayee ensured presence of US President Bill Clinton, an US presidential visit to India in 24years which thereafter improved bilateral ties between India and US.

 Social:

Vajpayee, on the other hand, introduced social reforms to uplift the unprivileged section of the society. In 2000-2001 he announced ‘Sarva Siksha Abhiyan’ to provide free, elementary and compulsory education to all children between 6-14years which drastically brought the number of school dropouts by 60per cent within two years.

In 2002, during the violent Gujarat riot that raged for two months between Hindus and Muslims and claimed 1000lives, Vajpayee decided to remove the then-Chief minister Narendra Modi for mishandling the situation. However, due to lack of internal support from his own party and pressure of the RSS, Vajpayee was unable to do so, but he sent Modi a strong message to ‘Maintain the proper duty of a ruler’ during his visit to Gujarat.

Vajpayee was also a great sponsor of science and technology. He passed the multi-billion-dollar project of Indian Moon Mission- ‘Chandrayaan-1.’ While addressing the nation on India’s 56th Independence Day he said: "Our country is now ready to fly high in the field of science. I am pleased to announce that India will send her own spacecraft to the moon by 2008. It is being named Chandrayaan.”

Economic:

At the threshold of 21^st century, realizing young India’s burgeoning aspirations, Vajpayee transformed the economic policy framework. Far-reaching reformation blue-prints have been designed for important sectors like banking, insurance, telecom, public sector enterprises, taxation, agriculture, ports, power industries etc. that eventually revolutionised Indian economic scenario with steady growth.

In another front, Vajpayee played a bold gamble of privatising unprofitable public sector entities by expediting asset sale process, which was euphemistically called as “strategic sales”. Despite of severe oppositions, 42 companies were privatized, including: Bharat Aluminium Co Ltd, CMC Ltd, Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd, 17 hotels of ITDC, while IBP & Co Ltd was acquired by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

Vajpayee replaced the ‘fixed license fees’ strategy with a ‘revenue-sharing’ arrangement in Indian Telecom sector. Policy formulation and implementation was diverted to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and monopoly of VSNL regarding international calling was defunct. ‘Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal’ was created to abolish government’s role in any kind of settlement.

The Vajpayee government later introduced ‘Fiscal Responsibility Act’ aiming to bring down fiscal deficit. It boosted public-sector savings which rose from -0.8% of GDP in FY 2000, to 2.3% in FY 2005. 

Conclusione:

In a nutshell, when Vajpayee declined as PM in 2004, the Indian economy was in a great shape—the GDP grew 8 per cent, exchange treasury was inundated, and inflation was curbed below 4 per cent. The steps Vajpayee took put India on the road to later socio-economic progress. A lot of projects undertaken during his tenure were continued by his successors. On 16^th Aug 2018, when Mr. Vajpayee succumbed to death, the whole India lamented, and a seven-day state mourning was announced by the government.  While addressing Vajpayee’s death current PM Narendra Modi said Vajpaee’s demise is a “personal and irreplaceable” loss. He will remain in the heart of 1.2 billion Indians for his futuristic nation building policies. As a mark of respect to Vajpayee, his birthday 25^th Dec was declared as ‘Good Governance Day.’

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