PROFILE : Atal Behari Vajpayee

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is serving his second term as the head of the world’s most populous democracy. His current challenges include working through increased tension with neighboring Pakistan while simultaneously quelling homeland tensions over U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan.

December’s attack on the Indian parliament by Islamic extremists pushed Mr. Vajpayee to break diplomatic relations with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Since the attack, Vajpayee has positioned his military along the India-Pakistani border, straining his ties with the West.

Atal Behari Vajpayee was born in 1924 in the state of Madhya Pradesh in the heart of the Indian subcontinent. The son of a school teacher, Vajpayee’s political life started at age 16, when he joined the Quit India Movement, credited with hastening the end of British rule in the country.

Following college graduation, where he earned merits for writing and poetry, Vajpayee entered professional life as a journalist. Politics however remained central to Vajpayee, who explored Communism and went on to help found several Hindu organizations.

In 1957, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha (House of the People). Successive elections earned Vajpayee a seat in the Lok Sabha eight more times and a seat in the Rajay Sabha (House of the State) twice.

Today’s ruling Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is actually an outgrowth of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh Party that Vajpayee help found in 1954.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Vajpayee won multiple electoral victories. Although he was jailed for obstructing a 1975 state of emergency declared by PM Indira Ghandi, his popularity continued to grow.

In 1977, Vajpayee served as the country’s foreign minister. He became leader of the BJP in 1979. The BJP won control of both houses in 1996, giving Vajpayee the Prime Minster post. Unable to form a coalition government however, Vajpayee was forced to resign 13 days later.

Greater political victories by the BJP in 1998 secured Vajpayee another opportunity to govern India as Prime Minister.

Considered a moderate face of the BJP, Vajpayee has tried to keep his distance from Hindu extremists in the party. He has tried to soften the anti-Muslims rhetoric common in the BJP, and now speaks of economic and social reforms including eradicating the system of untouchability and the rights of women.

In 1998 the United States imposed economic sanctions on India in response to nuclear testing. However President Bush lifted those sanctions in 2001 after Vajpayee pledged full support for the war against terrorism.

Vajpayee’s personal life captivates Indians as much his politics. He remains unmarried and continues to write poetry. He has also received numerous awards for his poetry and literary works, including the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honor in India.

-- by Carl Ballard, Online NewsHour

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