Atal Behari Vajpayee

Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee was sworn-in as the Prime Minister of India on 13 October 1999. Shri Vajpayee has assumed the office of the Prime Minister of India for the third time. Earlier, he was Prime Minister of India from 16-31 May 1996 and a second time from 19 March 1998 till 13 October 1999.

Educated at Victoria (now Laxmi Bai) College, Gwalior and DAV College, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Shri Vajpayee holds MA (Political Science) degree. His published works among others include "Meri Sansadiyan Yatra" (in four volumes), "Meri Ikkyavan Kavitayen", and "Amar Aag Hai" (a collection of poems), 1994.

Born on 25 December 1924 at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh to Shri Krishna Behari Vajpayee and Smt Krishna Devi, Shri Vajpayee has a long parliamentary experience spanning over four decades. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1957. He was elected to the fifth, sixth and seventh Lok Sabha and again to the tenth, eleventh and twelfth Lok Sabha and to Rajya Sabha in 1962 and 1986. He has been elected to Parliament from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time consecutively. He is the only parliamentarian elected from four different States at different times namely, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

Founder-member of the erstwhile Jana Sangh (1951), President, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1968-73), leader of the Jana Sangh Parliamentary Party (1955-1977) and a founder-member of the Janata Party (1977-80), Shri Vajpayee was President, BJP (1980-86) and the leader of the BJP Parliamentary party during 1980-84, 1986 and 1993-96. He was leader of the opposition throughout the term of the 11th Lok Sabha. Earlier, he was India's External Affairs Minister in the Morarji Desai Government from 24 March 1977 to 28 July 1979. Shri Vajpayee participated in the freedom struggle and went to jail in 1942. He was detained during emergency in 1975-77.

Widely respected within the country and abroad as a statesman of the genre of Jawaharlal Nehru, he has been taking a keen interest in international affairs, upliftment of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, women and child welfare.

Shri Vajpayee was conferred Padma Vibhushan in 1992 in recognition of his services to the nation. He was also conferred the Lokmanya Tilak Puraskar and the Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Award for the Best Parliamentarian, both in 1994. Earlier, the Kanpur University honoured him with an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in 1993.