Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was three times Prime Minister of India, first from 16 May to 1 June 1996, and then from 19 March 1998 to 22 May 2004. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vaypayee served as the eleventh Prime Minister of India. He headed the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in theIndian Parliament, and became the first Prime Minister unaffiliated with theIndian National Congress to complete a full five-year term in office. Atalji very well understood peoples’ need of an option against congress. Despite continuous failures in elections he worked tirelessly to erect BJP and finally could secure 88 seats in 1989 general election. By 1995 he was declared as Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP and became the Prime Minister in 1996 though for a short tenure of 13 days. The slogan used for election campaign was Bari bari sabki bari, ab ki bari Atal Bihari. He eclipsed back with Advani and again sworn in as Prime Minister in 1998. Jancha, Parkha, Khara the slogan from 1999 election campaign against Congress. In 1992 he was one of the few Hindu leaders to speak out against the destruction of the historic mosque at Ayodhya by anti-Muslim extremists. On 25 December 2014 the office of President of India announced Bharat Ratna award, India’s highest civilian honour, to Vajpayee. His birthday, 25 december, was declared as “Good Governance Day”.