Trivia

13th Prime Minister of India (May 16, 1996 - June 1, 1996) & 16th (March 19, 1998 - May 12, 2004 [2 terms]).

Founding head of the Bhartiya Janata Party [1980]. Today, the BJP is world's largest political organization in a multi-party democratic nation, comprising of over 150 million registered members.

First non-Congress Prime Minister of India to complete a full term in office. [1998-2004].

Although not a member of the Indian National Congress, Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao appointed Vajpayee as India's permanent representative to the United Nations in 1992.

Served as Minister of External Affairs in the short lived Morarji Desai Ministry [1977-79] which was dissolved owing to a Vote of No Confidence passed in the parliament against Vajpayee's and Lal Krishna Advani's [then Minister for Information and Broadcast] continued membership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. During this tenure as MEA, Vajpayee delivered a speech in the United Nations General Assembly entirely in Hindi.

Frequently considered alongside PV Narsimha Rao and Lal Bahadur Shastri as India's greatest Prime Minister of all-time, owing to the extensive modern infrastructure, the Pokhran-II Nuclear Tests and continued large scale foreign trade expansion policies during his tenure which led to India's economy registering record growth rates.

In a 2012 poll by CNN-IBN, Vajpayee was voted the 9th greatest Indian since independence.

As a mark of tribute to his brilliant administration as Prime Minister, his birthday is celebrated as National Good Governance Day in India.

Bestowed upon with India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and the highest civilian honor, Bharat Ratna in 2015. However, Vajpayee, who was then 90, was so ill that incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally went to his Lucknow residence to confer the medal on him.

His career as a parliamentarian lasted 47 years, spanning over 6 decades before he retired from active politics in 2005 in the aftermath of BJP's upset defeat in the 2004 General Elections.

His friendship with fellow BJP founding figure Lal Krishna Advani lasted more than 60 years. Advani served as Home Minister under Vajpayee for the entirety of his Prime Ministership and Deputy Prime Minister for the final 2 years till 2004. However, Advani continues to remain active in politics even today, although as a mentor.

Good friends with cinema legend Dev Anand since the 1970s. In fact, Vajpayee personally asked Anand to accompany him on the Delhi-Lahore bus as a part of Vajpayee's peace talks delegation to Pakistan in 1999. Anand had also campaigned against the Emergency and for the Janata Party prior to the 1977 General Elections.

During one of his speeches as Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh referred to Vajpayee as the "Bheeshmapitamaah of Indian Politics", a reference to the revered figure of the Indian epic Mahabharata, due to his acumen as a statesman and the respect which Vajpayee commanded across the political spectrum.

One of the members of the right-wing political party Bhartiya Jan Sangh from its from its founding in 1951 till 1977 when it was merged with several political outfits opposed to Indira Gandhi's regime to form the Janata Party which itself was splintered into several factions by 1980, Vajpayee's faction being incepted as the Bhartiya Janata Party.

Considered the 2002 Gujarat riots as a prime factor for his defeat in the 2004 Indian General Elections. In private, he also confided he should have dismissed the BJP government of Gujarat, then led by his protege and future Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the aftermath of the fiasco pending investigation.

Unlike other conservative Brahmins from Uttar Pradesh, Vajpayee loved meat and occasionally also liked to celebrate with whiskey.

Called the Union Elections six months ahead of schedule in 2004, believing his National Democratic Alliance would retain power, but to the shock of most BJP suffered a crumbling defeat winning only 138 seats and it's allies deserted the NDA. Vajpayee, as did most political commentators, attributed it to the inability to reach out to the rural masses.

Stated that he had a final peace initiative with Pakistan for his political career even after the 1999 Kargil War, but declined to carry it forward after terrorists belonging to Lashkar-E-Tayabba attacked the Indian Parliament Building in 2001. Intelligence agencies traced their training camps to Pakistan, therefore Vajpayee cancelled the proposal.

A noted poet, his collection of poems titled SAMVEDANA was released in the form of a music video during his tenure as Prime Minister with lyrics and background voice by legendary playback singer Jagjit Singh and featuring then reigning Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan.

With the re-election of his protege Narendra Modi in May 2019 which guarantees him a 10 year term when backdated to May 2014, Vajpayee is now the second longest serving non-Congress and third longest non-Nehru family member(after Dr. Manmohan Singh) Prime Minister of India.[December, 2022].

On his demise in 2018, he was chronicled by both national and overseas press as "arguably the last statesman of independent India".

Upon assuming office as External Affairs Minister in 1977, he had a portrait of India's inaugural Prime Minister cum External Affairs Minister Jawaharlal Nehru reinstated in his office. The staff members, puzzled by Vajpayee's request asked him the reason, reminding him that he had bitter arguments with Nehru during his tenure as a parliamentarian in the 1950s. Smiling, Vajpayee responded that it was the mark of a healthy democracy that you got to question the one's in power as an opposition member, a privilege he attributed to Nehru.

Although he fiercely opposed Indira Gandhi and her authoritarian regime resulting from the declaration of Emergency in 1975 which also resulted in his imprisonment, Vajpayee in 1971 had hailed Gandhi as "Goddess Durga incarnate" after Indian Armed Forces routed the Pakistani military on both fronts and Gandhi's diplomatic maneuvers with the Soviet Union neutralized any possibility of a United States or British intervention on behalf of Pakistan.