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Atal
Bihari
Vajpayee
was
an
Indian
politician
who
served
three
terms
as
the
Prime
Minister
of
India:
first
for
a
term
of
13
days
in
1996,
then
for
a
period
of
13
months
from
1998
to
1999,
and
finally,
for
a
full
term
from
1999
to
2004.
He
was
the
first
Indian
prime
minister
who
was
not
a
member
of
the
Indian
National
Congress
party
to
have
served
a
full
five-year
term
in
office.
He
was
a
member
of
the
Indian
Parliament
for
over
four
decades,
having
been
elected
to
the
Lok
Sabha,
the
lower
house,
ten
times,
and
twice
to
the
Rajya
Sabha,
the
upper
house.
He
served
as
the
Member
of
Parliament
for
Lucknow,
Uttar
Pradesh
until
2009
when
he
retired
from
active
politics
due
to
health
concerns.
Vajpayee
was
among
the
founding
members
of
the
erstwhile
Bharatiya
Jana
Sangh
which
he
also
headed
from
1968
to
1972.
He
was
the
Minister
of
External
Affairs
in
the
cabinet
of
Prime
Minister
Morarji
Desai.
When
the
Janata
government
collapsed,
Vajpayee
restructured
the
Jana
Sangh
into
the
Bharatiya
Janata
Party
in
1980.
During
his
tenure
as
prime
minister,
India
carried
out
the
Pokhran-II
nuclear
tests
in
1998,
becoming
one
of
six
countries
then
to
possess
nuclear
weapons.
He
sought
to
improve
diplomatic
relations
with
Pakistan,
travelling
to
Lahore
by
bus
to
meet
with
Prime
Minister
Nawaz
Sharif.
After
the
1999
Kargil
War
with
Pakistan,
he
sought
to
restore
relations
through
engaging
with
President
Pervez
Musharraf,
inviting
him
to
India
for
the
Agra
summit.
Major
economic
reforms
introduced
by
his
government
paved
the
way
for
high
GDP
growth
over
the
next
decade.
He
was
conferred
India's
highest
civilian
honour,
the
Bharat
Ratna,
by
the
President
of
India,
Pranab
Mukherjee
in
2015.
The
Modi
government
declared
in
2014
that
Vajpayee's
birthday,
25
December,
would
be
marked
as
Good
Governance
Day.
He
died
on
16
August
2018
due
to
age
related
illness.
Vajpayee
was
born
to
Krishna
Devi
and
Krishna
Bihari
Vajpayee
on
25
December
1924
in
Gwalior.
His
grandfather,
Pandit
Shyam
Lal
Vajpayee,
had
migrated
to
Morena,
Gwalior
from
his
ancestral
village
of
Bateshwar,
Uttar
Pradesh.
Atal
Bihari
Vajpayee
was
an
Indian
politician
who
served
three
terms
as
the
Prime
Minister
of
India:
first
for
a
term
of
13
days
in
1996,
then
for
a
period
of
13
months
from
1998
to
1999,
and
finally,
for
a
full
term
from
1999
to
2004.
He
was
the
first
Indian
prime
minister
who
was
not
a
member
of
the
Indian
National
Congress
party
to
have
served
a
full
five-year
term
in
office.
He
was
a
member
of
the
Indian
Parliament
for
over
four
decades,
having
been
elected
to
the
Lok
Sabha,
the
lower
house,