In the annals of India’s post-Independence history, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be remembered as the most remarkable Prime Minister till date. As the Prime Minister, Vajpayee was responsible for bringing in wide range of reforms in infrastructure, telecom, Information Technology etc. In addition, during his tenure he broke the mould in defence and foreign policy.
Vajpayee’s tenure will be remembered for its rich economic legacy. A strong proponent of free market economy, Vajpayee was responsible for improving ease of doing business, encouraging foreign direct investment and allowing disinvestment of loss making Public Sector Units. His economic policy had to face stiff resistance from the then leadership of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch. Even Vajpayee also used to have occasional differences with his party. But they didn’t deter him from taking bold decisions.
As the Prime Minister, he possessed the rare ability to build consensus between his party, his coalition partners and the Opposition benches on a number of occasions. This was his signature of politics.
Here are the 16 reasons which made Vajpayee the most remarkable Prime Minister till date.
Pioneer of coalition politics: One of the biggest contributions of Vajpayee to Indian politics was that he made politics of coalition acceptable. At a time when coalition politics was a new entrant in India, Vajpayee successfully led a 24-member coalition block with each party representing a diverse political ideology. Such was his image that not just BJP, the NDA allies also used gain electorally from Vajpayee’s popularity.
Infrastructural development: Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister ushered in massive infrastructural development in India. Vajpayee unveiled India’s most memorable road project Golden Quadrilateral, which connects four metropolises – Delhi, Mumbai Chennai and Kolkata – as well as from Sri Nagar to Kanyakumari and Porbandar to Silchar.
“The highways we are building under the National Highways Development Project are not mere highways. They are the bhagyarekha (lines of destiny) on the hands of our nation. With these highways, we are writing a new destiny of India,” Vajpayee had said.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee launched Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, which provides good all-weather roads to unconnected villages across India. He laid the foundation of Delhi metro, India’s first modern metro rail project, which now stands as the beacon of the country’s urban mobility.
Telecom reforms: Vajpayee is regarded as the father of modern telecommunications. He unveiled National Telecom Policy in 1999, which made a transition from the license based regime to revenue sharing model. This opened up India’s telecom sector and brought in mobile phone revolution.
Disinvestment: Vajpayee created Department of Disinvestment under the Finance Ministry in 1999 and converted it into Disinvestment Ministry in 2001. Between 1999 and 2004, the Vajpayee government allowed 30 strategic sales, which includes Public Sector Units like Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, Hindustan Zinc, Balco, IPCL and several ITDC hotels etc. In addition, his dispensation also started the process of divesting government’s holding in Maruti.
IT revolution: India witnessed an Information Technology boom when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
“India’s IT bellwether represented a happy confluence of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Shakti,” Vajpayee had famously said.
GST: It was Vajpayee who set the ball rolling for Goods and Services Tax (GST) which aims at making India a common market with common tax rates.
Aadhaar: The idea of Aadhaar was first mooted by the Vajpayee government.
Kisan credit card: Vajpayee introduced Kisan credit card in 1998 which revolutionised bank lending to farmers to meet their agricultural production needs.
Giving pricing power to oil Cos: Vajpayee government dismantled the administered price mechanism (APM) for petroleum products and gave pricing power to the state-run oil marketing companies.
Sarva Siksha Abhiyan: Vajpayee laid the foundation of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, which made free and compulsory education for children between the age group of 6 to 14 years a Fundamental Right.
POTA: In a bid to strengthen anti-terror operations, the Vajpayee government passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in 2002.
Nuclear test: One of the most significant achievements under Vajpayee as the Prime Minister was that he catapulted India in the elite nuclear club. During his tenure, India conducted five ungrounded nuclear test at Pokhran desert in Rajasthan.
“Our nuclear weapons are meant purely against nuclear adventure by an advisory,” Vajpayee had famously declared.
Neighborhood diplomacy: Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s initiative as a crusader of peace will always remembered. “’You can choose your friends, but not neighbours,” Vajpayee had famously said.
He went extra miles to shape India’s neighborhood diplomacy. Overcoming the hesitations of history, he engaged with China and tried to make peace with Pakistan.
He made two attempts to improve ties with Pakistan. To establish people to people contact between India and Pakistan, Vajpayee flagged off Delhi-Lahore bus service, popularly known as Sada-e-Sarhad (Call of the Frontier), in February 1999. He himself travelled to Lahore by bus and signed the Lahore Declaration which proposed several measures to restore confidence and normalise relations between the two countries. But the bonhomie between India and Pakistan could not last as the Kargil war broke out.
In 2001, Vajpayee tried to build peace with Pakistan again by inviting then Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to the Agra Summit, but the summit ended in a deadlock.
Vajpayee firmly believed that engagement with China was a strategic necessity. He promoted economic ties between India and China, apart from making initiatives to resolve the long standing boarder disputes between two neighbors. During his tenure India recognised Tibet as part of China while China formally recognised Sikkim as part of India.
Kashmir doctrine: ‘Insaniyat, Jamhuriyat, Kashmiriyat’ (Humanity, peace, and keeping the sanctity of Kashmir) – this was Vajpayee’s doctrine on Kashmir which had received universal acclamation from distinct sections of the Kashmir Valley.
Kargil victory: When Vajpayee flagged off Sada-e-Sarhad in February 1999, Pakistani troops and Pakistani terrorists in Army gear had already infiltrated into the Indian territory across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil sector.
When the Kargil war took place, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the caretaker Prime Minister. As soon as Indian Army detected the infiltration, Vajpayee immediately responded with an iron first. He asked the defence forces to reclaim every inch of the territory from Pakistani intruders.
‘‘I have confidence in the ability of our armed forces. The armed forces shall accomplish this task and ensure that no one dares to indulge in this kind of misadventure in future,” Vajpayee had said while addressing the nation on June 7, 1999.
India won the war. Indian defence forces successfully recaptured the Indian positions, in Kargil, lost to the Pakistani intruders. Kargil victory further bolstered the image of Vajpayee.
India-US ties: India-US ties progressed to a new level during Vajpayee regime. After a gap of 22 years, Bill Clinton was the first US President to visit India in March 2000. During that visit the two sides signed a comprehensive document – ‘India Relations: A Vision for the 21st Century’. In September 2000, Vajpayee addressed the joint session of the US Congress where he had described India and the US as “natural partners” of “shared endeavors”.
It was Vajpayee who included ‘nuclear energy’ as the first item for cooperation with the United States under the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP). It was indeed the most significant initiatives taken by the two great democracies of the world to move the world from the era of nuclear threats and confrontation to an age of peaceful, fruitful and constructive partnership in peaceful usages of nuclear power.
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