On 16th August 2018, India had lost its former Prime minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee. An astute politician and an eminent leader who was momentous in building the nation during his term. He will be largely remembered for his contributions in raising India’s GDP, handling the Kargil Conflict (1999), enhancing the telecom sector, making India a nuclear weapon state and many others. Here we bring you a few quick facts about Atal Bihari Vajpayee on today’s read.
Quick Facts about Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
#1 Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior. He got graduated with distinction in Hindi, English, and Sanskrit. Later on, he pursued his law degree from DAV Law college. It is interesting to note that he pursued his law degree along with his father, in the same college.
#2 Vajpayee was India’s former Prime minister. He served as the Prime minister of India for three non-consecutive terms between 1996 and 2004. Interestingly, his term lasted only for 13 days when he was elected during his first stint.
#3 Vajpayee is known to be the first non-congress Prime minister to serve a full five-year term as the Prime minister of India (1998 to 2004).
#4 He has also served as India’s Minister of External Affairs in 1997. Interestingly, he was the first person to give a speech in Hindi at the UN General Assembly in 1997.
#5 In 2005, Vajpayee was conferred with Bharath Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honor from former President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. Also, he is honored with Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and the Best Parliamentarian award in 1994.
#6 Vajpayee was the first Prime minister to run a Coalition Government in India with 26 parties.
#7 Another interesting fact about Vajpayee is that he got elected to Lok Sabha for a record 9 times & twice for Rajya Sabha.
#8 He is also credited to be the only Parliamentarian to elect from 4 different states; UP, MP, Gujarat, and Delhi.
#9 To bring in a full-scale diplomatic peace process with Pakistan, Vajpayee Ji Inaugurated the historic Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999.
#10 The most ambitious road projects in India including Golden Quadrilateral and the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana were launched during his time.
#11 Vajpayee played a momentous role in making India a nuclear weapon state. He passed the Chandrayan – 1 project and allowed India to conduct five nuclear tests in a Week.
#12 Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his education policy launched in 2001 brought a drastic change in the number of dropouts by nearly 60 percent.
#13 The most important milestone credited to Vajpayee’s name is Privatisation. Besides raising India’s GDP to eight percent in his tenure, he further introduced the Fiscal Responsibility Act which aimed to reduce the fiscal deficit and boost public-sector savings.
#14 Atal Bihari Vajpayee has undergone 10 surgeries in the last 20 years. He’s been sick for a very long time and nowadays, he was severely suffering from partial speech impairment.
Throwback to some of the Tweets.
India grieves the demise of our beloved Atal Ji.
His passing away marks the end of an era. He lived for the nation and served it assiduously for decades. My thoughts are with his family, BJP Karyakartas and millions of admirers in this hour of sadness. Om Shanti.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 16, 2018
PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee dared to challenge the world and make India into a nuclear power at Pokhran in 1998. Congress and the left protested along with the West. Now Vajpayee's bold action is accepted by all and forms his greatest legacy. #AtalBihariVajpayee
— Dr David Frawley (@davidfrawleyved) August 16, 2018
RIP Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The leadership lesson that I learned from my interactions with him was that no matter how significant your achievements while in office, you ultimately earn the affection of people through your humanity and your humility…
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) August 16, 2018
Today, Vajpayee is not there with us but his work, the way he led his life and the way he inspired millions to national duty will be remembered forever.
If you don’t want to miss our next Post then Like and Follow MetroSaga on Facebook or simply download our Android App
You can also Subscribe to MetroSaga for newsletters.
