12 interesting facts about former PM and poet Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a respectable figure and one of the greatest politicians of India. He was also known as the “Bhishma Pitamah” of Indian politics, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s personality was so great that even opposing party members used to respect him.

Here are some interesting facts about Atal Bihari Vajpayee you need to know

* He was the Prime Minister of India for 3 times

Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister of India not once or twice but thrice. The first time he became PM was way back in 1996 when BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha General Elections. However, after noticing that he couldn’t win the majority, he resigned from the post after 13 days. Between 1998 to 1999 he became PM for the second time but he resigned after eleven months. His third time at the office was his longest from 1999 to 2004.

* Won from four different states

He was by far the only parliamentarian who got elected from four different states altogether Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat were those states from where he was elected.

* He was his father’s classmate

Vajpayee had a law degree from the DAV College in Kanpur along with his father. Apparently, when his father saw him enrolling to study Law, he became very interested and expressed his desire to study the same.

* He loved RSS

His sister used to throw his RSS Khakhi pants which Vajpayee used to wear many times outside the house. Apparently, she did it because their father was a government employee and didn’t allow him to wear RSS Khakhi pants.

* Opponents had a great respect for him

One of the rare fact in politics is that Vajpayee was the most popular politician & the first ever non-congress PM to serve a full term of 5 years in office, he was and still is widely respected not only by his followers but also his opponents.

* The day he spoke in favour of opposing party

While campaigning in Gwalior in 1984, he told all the audience present in the rally to vote for Congress & show that one cannot get away with assassinating our PM. That year he lost against Madhav Rao Scindia in Gwalior, but that was the only time he ever lost from that state.

* He was a poet by heart

Each one of us know that Atal Bihari Vajpayee is one of the best poets of our country. One of his poem ‘Meri Ekyavan Kavitayen’ was critically acclaimed and is still loved by readers. He then released 2 albums with Jagjit Singh featuring his poems Nayi Disha(1999) and Samvedna(2002).

* He never got married

Atal Bihari Vajpayee practiced celibacy (the state of abstaining from marriage and sexual relations) and never got married. However, he later adopted a daughter whose name is Namita. Namita was the daughter of Mrs Rajkumari Kaul, Atal ji’s name was often associated with Mrs. Kaul in a romantic way by the media.

* The Pokhran nuclear test

When we talk about Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s political life we have to talk about The Pokhran nuclear test. Pokhran-II was the series of five nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in May 1998. After the tests conducted by the Army, Atal Bihari Vajpayee called for a press conference to declare India as a full-fledged nuclear state.

* When he gave a speech in Hindi

He took the world by storm on early 1977 when he as India’s Foreign Minister gave a great speech at the UN General Assembly in Hindi. That was the first time anyone had given a speech in Hindi at the global forum.

* The bus of peace

He inaugurated the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999. To bring full-scale diplomatic peace process with Pakistan.

* Awards

Vajpayee was honoured with some of the great awards in India, like Padma Vibhushana in 1992, the Best Parliamentarian award in 1994 & Bharat Ratna in 2014.