Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 97th birth anniversary today: A mass leader, excellent orator, poet and Bharat Ratna awardee, here's all about former PM

New Delhi: India is today (December 25, 2021) celebrating the 97th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Known as a man of the masses, Vajpayee was born in 1924 in the family of a school teacher in Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh).

His first brush with nationalist politics was during his student days when he had joined the Quit India Movement in 1942. 

Vajpayee, a Bharat Ratna awardee, was a student of political science and law and had developed a keen interest in foreign affairs in college.

(Photo credits: PTI)

He had also embarked upon a journalist's career, which was cut short in 1951 when he joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party. 

Vajpayee was also a critically acclaimed poet and also used to indulge in music and in a bit of gourmet cooking.

A veteran Parliamentarian whose career stretched over four decades, he was elected to the Lok Sabha nine times and to the Rajya Sabha twice.

He first took charge as Prime Minister of India for a short period in 1996, followed by a second and a third term between 1998-2004. Vajpayee, notably, was the first PM since Jawaharlal Nehru to have become Prime Minister of India with two successive mandates.

(Photo credits: PTI)

As India’s Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Chairperson of various important Standing Committees of Parliament and Leader of the Opposition, he was known as an active participant in shaping the country's post-Independence domestic and foreign policy.

The country's second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, was conferred upon Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1992. He was then conferred India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by the then president of India Pranab Mukherjee in 2015.

(Photo credits: Reuters)

In 1994, he was also named India’s ‘Best Parliamentarian'.

Vajpayee, who died on August 16 in 2018 of age-related illness, will always be known as an erudite politician, a selfless social worker, forceful orator, poet and litterateur.

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