Essay on Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Hello all of you here is essay on Atal Bihari Vajpayee our great Former Prime Minister.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Introduction

Former Prime Minister and ‘BharataratnaAtal Bihari Vajpayee was the only politician in the country who represented 6 Lok Sabha constituencies in 4 states. Vajpayee is the only leader to have won elections from Lucknow and Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Gwalior, and Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, and New Delhi parliamentary seat in Delhi.

Birth and education:

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on 25 December 1924, this day is called the ‘big day’ in India. His father Pandit Krishnabihari Vajpayee used to teach and his mother Krishnadevi was a domestic woman.

Atalji was the 7th child of his parents. He had 3 elder brothers and 3 sisters. Atalji’s elder brothers are known as Awadhbihari Vajpayee, Sadabihari Vajpayee, and Prembihari Vajpayee.

Atalji was introverted and talented since childhood. He got his early education at Saraswati Shiksha Mandir, Gorkhi, Bada, Vidyalaya. From here he got an education up to 8th grade. He gave his first speech when he was in the 5th grade. He was admitted to Victoria College, from where he studied up to intermediate.

It was during his college life that he started participating in political activities. Initially, he joined the student organization. Narayan Rao Tarte, a prominent activist of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, impressed him greatly. He served as the branch in-charge of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Political life:

Vajpayee entered politics in 1942 when his brothers were imprisoned for 23 days during the Quit India Movement. In 1951, when the Bharatiya Jana Sangh Party was formed with the support of the RSS, Atal Bihari Vajpayee played an important role with leaders like Shyamaprasad Mukherjee.

In 1952, Atal Bihari Vajpayee contested the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat for the first time but did not succeed. He had contested a by-election in a Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, where he had to face defeat. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had his first breakthrough in 1957.

In 1957, the Jana Sangh contested them from 3 Lok Sabha seats – Lucknow, Mathura, and Balrampur. He lost the election in Lucknow, his bail was forfeited in Mathura, but he won the election from Balrampur parliamentary seat to the Lok Sabha.

Seeing the extraordinary personality of Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of that time Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had said that this person would definitely become Prime Minister in the coming days. Vajpayee contested the third Lok Sabha election from Lucknow in 1962, but could not win. He was then elected a Rajya Sabha member. Later contested the Lok Sabha elections again in 1967, but could not win. This was followed by a by-election in 1967, where he won and became an MP.

In 1968, Vajpayee became the National President of the Jana Sangh. At that time the party was accompanied by leaders like Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok, and Lal Krishna Advani. In the 5th Lok Sabha election in 1971, Atal Bihari Vajpayee contested from Gwalior Parliamentary seat of Madhya Pradesh and won the Parliament. He represented the New Delhi parliamentary constituency in the 1977 post-Emergency and then mid-term elections in 1980.

In 1984, Atalji filed a Lok Sabha election from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and suddenly the Congress pitted Madhavrao Scindia against him while Madhavrao was elected from Guna parliamentary constituency. Vajpayee lost from Scindia by 1 lakh votes.

Vajpayeeji also once mentioned that he himself had asked Madhavrao in the corridor of Parliament that he would not contest from Gwalior. Madhavrao refused at that time, but as part of the Congress strategy, he was suddenly filed. In this way, Vajpayee did not have a chance that he would be able to file a nomination from elsewhere. In such a situation, he had to face defeat from Scindia. After this, Vajpayee contested elections from Lucknow and Vidisha seats of Madhya Pradesh in the 1991 general election and won from both places. He later gave up the Vidisha seat.

LK Advani did not contest from Gandhinagar due to his name appearing in the Hawala incident in 1996. In this situation, Atal Bihari Vajpayee contested from Lucknow’s seat as well as Gandhinagar and won from both places. After this, Vajpayee made Lucknow his workplace. He won the 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow seat and became an MP.

The Janata Party won the Lok Sabha elections in 1977 after the Emergency and became the Minister of External Affairs in the Morarji Bhai Desai-led government. After becoming the foreign minister, Vajpayee was the first leader to address the United Nations Federation in Hindi. After this, the Janata Party disintegrated due to the rift and in 1980 the old friends along with Vajpayee left the Janata Party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Vajpayee became the first national president of the BJP and became one of the biggest critics of the Congress government. When the party won elections in Karnataka in 1994 and Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1995, Vajpayee was then declared the prime ministerial candidate by the then party president LK Advani.

Vajpayeeji became Prime Minister 3 times from 1996 to 2004. In the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP emerged as the largest party in the country and Vajpayee became the Prime Minister for the first time, although his government fell due to not winning an absolute majority in Parliament in 13 days.

In the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the party won more seats and with the support of some other parties, Vajpayee formed the NDA and he again became the Prime Minister. This government lasted for 13 months, but in the middle Jayalalithaa’s party left the government, due to which the government fell. The BJP returned to power in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections and remained in the post till 2004. This time Vajpayeeji completed his term.

Conclusion

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) due to prolonged illness, where he underwent long treatment and died on 16 August 2018 at the age of 93.