Vajpayee was born in a humble family of a school teacher on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior. He entered politics during the Quit India movement in 1942.
He became the Prime Minister for the first time on 16 May 1996 when then-President Shankar Dayal Sharma invited BJP, which was the single largest party, to form the government. The stint, however, lasted for only 13 days.
On March 19 1998, Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second time. After 13 months, the Vajpayee government lost the vote of confidence by one vote on 17 April 1999.
His tenure saw India’s second nuclear test at Pokharan on 11 May 1998. A spate of trade and other sanctions by the US and other countries followed. Despite the nuclear test, Vajpayee reached out to Pakistan through the Lahore bus diplomacy in February 1999.
Just three months later the Lahore bus diplomacy, Pakistan attacked India in May 1999, leading to the Kargil War. The Vajpayee-led NDA won 303 Lok Sabha seats in 1999 and he was sworn in as Prime Minister for the third time on October 13.
Vajpayee did not have very cordial relations with Narendra Modi and had asked him to follow 'raj-dharma' in the wake of the 2002 Gujarat riots. He wanted Modi to quit as chief minister but he survived as LK Advani backed him.
Vajpayee was seen as a secular, moderate leader. He distanced himself from Advani’s 1991 rath yatra and was not present at Ayodhya when the Babri mosque was razed. Later, he said the mosque should not have been destroyed.
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