Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former PM, statesman, and a poet, was an ajaatashatru. He was a part of public life for more than half a century. The first PM, Nehru, was impressed by young Vajpayee’s oration on Indo-China relations in Lok Sabha and prophesied that he would become PM someday.

Vajpayee was a committed democrat. The defeat of his government from a single vote in the LS in 1999 reflected his democratic ethics. He made the BJP acceptable to smaller parties, which were skeptical of the BJP.

The first non-Congress PM and the first coalition PM to complete a full 5-year term, he proved that India can be stably governed by a non-Congress government. He became a role model for future coalitions to run a coalition government successfully.

The greatness of Vajpayee lies in the fact that, as a PM, he worked democratically under the principles of the constitution. Vajpayee will be remembered by this country for decisively performing the Pokhran nuclear test, for the reconciliatory approach towards Pakistan, for the Kashmir policy which came to be called ‘Vajpayee doctrine’ (that emphasised humanity, democracy, and the identity of Kashmiris), for recognising the importance of road infrastructure by launching the Golden Quadrilateral project, and for furthering the economic reforms of 1991.