Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Vajpayee, Atal Bihari (1926- ), Indian politician and Hindu nationalist leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prime Minister of India (1996, 1998-1999). Vajpayee was born in the city of Gwalior in central India to a family of the Brahmin caste, the highest of the five castes of Hinduism. As a teenager, Vajpayee joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Service), a right-wing Hindu nationalist organization. After earning an advanced degree in political science, Vajpayee in 1951 helped organize the Jana Sangh, a Hindu nationalist political party. In 1957 Vajpayee won election to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, where he quickly established a reputation as a gifted orator.

In 1992 Vajpayee criticized radical Hindu nationalists who razed a historic Muslim mosque in northern Uttar Pradesh State. The incident, which provoked Hindu-Muslim riots that killed more than 2,000 people, led to the resignation of Advani and opened the way for Vajpayee to resume leadership of the party. Vajpayee became prime minister in May 1996 after the BJP emerged from parliamentary elections as the largest party, winning 161 seats in the 545-seat Lok Sabha. However, he was forced to resign 13 days later when his government failed to attract support from other parties. In March 1998 Vajpayee was sworn in for a second term as prime minister following parliamentary elections that gave the BJP 179 seats. To gain political support for his fragile coalition government, Vajpayee softened the BJP's stand on policies perceived as hostile to India's Muslims. A poet and lifelong bachelor, Vajpayee was widely portrayed as a moderate within a political movement long associated with a rigid pro-Hindu agenda. However, Vajpayee did not retreat from the BJP's controversial pledge to declare India a nuclear weapons power. In May 1998 the Indian government conducted its first nuclear weapons tests since 1974, testing five nuclear devices. Within weeks Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests, arousing fears of a regional nuclear arms race, and the international community imposed heavy sanctions. By early 1999 Vajpayee was working to heal relations with Pakistan and to calm violence against India's Christians, orchestrated by nationalist Hindu groups with links to his own party. In April 1999 he lost a vote of confidence in parliament by one vote after one of the BJP's coalition partners withdrew support, and was forced to step down.