A headmaster in Odisha was suspended on Monday for closing his school
for a day following rumours about the death of former Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is unwell but very much alive in his Delhi
home.
Kamalakanta Das, the headmaster of a primary school in Balasore district, rang up a teacher on Friday and asked him to hold a condolence meeting and close the school for the day after he heard at a training workshop that 90-year-old Vajpayee was no more.
Accordingly, the junior teachers and students assembled for a meeting and floral tributes were paid to the former Prime Minister.
Das later regretted his faux pas and said he got the “news” about Vajpayee’s death from a fellow teacher at a training programme in another school.
Balasore district collector Sanatan Mallick ordered an inquiry after the incident came to his notice a day later. “This is very unfortunate that a headmaster has acted in such an irresponsible manner without crosschecking facts. He has been suspended,” he said.
A similar incident happened in Jharkhand some time ago when the state’s education minister paid floral tributes to former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who was alive then but recuperating in hospital following an illness.
Three-time Prime Minister Vajpayee, who was recently conferred with the Bharat Ratna, has not been in the public eye for the past several years because of failing health.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 25 December 1924) is an Indian statesman who was the Prime Minister of India, first for 13 days in 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004. A leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he is the first Prime Minister from outside the Indian National Congress party to serve a full five-year term.
A parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India's Parliament) nine times, and twice to the Rajya Sabha (upper house). He also served as the Member of Parliament for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, when he retired from active politics due to health concerns. Vajpayee was one amongst the founder members of erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which he had also headed. He was also the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Morarji Desai. When Janata government collapsed, Vajpayee restarted the Jana Sangh as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980.
On 25 December 2014 the office of President of India announced the Bharat Ratna award, India's highest civilian honour, to Vajpayee. In a special gesture, President of India conferred Bharat Ratna to Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his residence on 27 March 2015.[1] His birthday, 25 December, was declared "Good Governance Day".[2][3]
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. His father, Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, was a poet and a schoolmaster in his hometown. Vajpayee studied from the Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Gorkhi, Bara, Gwalior.[citation needed] Vajpayee attended Gwalior's Victoria College (now Laxmi Bai College) and graduated with distinction in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. He completed his post-graduation with an M.A. in Political Science from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Kanpur, and was awarded a first-class degree.[4][5]
His activism started with the Arya Kumar Sabha of Gwalior, the youth wing of the Arya Samaj, of which he became the General Secretary in 1944. He also joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a swayamsevak in 1939. Influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he attended the Officers Training Camp of the RSS during 1940-44 and became a "full-time worker" in 1947, technically a pracharak. He gave up studying law due to the partition riots. He was sent as a vistarak (probationary pracharak) to Uttar Pradesh and quickly began working for the newspapers of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Rashtradharma (a Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly) and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun. Vajpayee never married and has remained a bachelor his entire life.[5][6][7]
In 1951, he was seconded by the RSS, along with Deendayal Upadhyaya, to work for the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a Hindu right-wing political party associated with the RSS. He was appointed as a national secretary of the party in charge of the Northern region, based in Delhi. He soon became a follower and aide of party leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee. In 1954, Vajpayee was with Mookerjee when he went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir to protest against perceived inferior treatment of non-Kashmiri Indian visitors to the state. Mookerjee died in prison during this strike. In 1957, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament, from Balrampur. There, his oratorial skills so impressed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that he predicted that Vajpayee would someday become India's Prime Minister.[9]
By virtue of his oratorical and organizational skills, he became the face of the Jana Sangh. After the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the mantle of the leadership of Jana Sangh fell on the shoulders of a young Vajpayee. He became the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 and, along with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and L. K. Advani, led the Jana Sangh to national prominence.
Kamalakanta Das, the headmaster of a primary school in Balasore district, rang up a teacher on Friday and asked him to hold a condolence meeting and close the school for the day after he heard at a training workshop that 90-year-old Vajpayee was no more.
Accordingly, the junior teachers and students assembled for a meeting and floral tributes were paid to the former Prime Minister.
Das later regretted his faux pas and said he got the “news” about Vajpayee’s death from a fellow teacher at a training programme in another school.
Balasore district collector Sanatan Mallick ordered an inquiry after the incident came to his notice a day later. “This is very unfortunate that a headmaster has acted in such an irresponsible manner without crosschecking facts. He has been suspended,” he said.
A similar incident happened in Jharkhand some time ago when the state’s education minister paid floral tributes to former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who was alive then but recuperating in hospital following an illness.
Three-time Prime Minister Vajpayee, who was recently conferred with the Bharat Ratna, has not been in the public eye for the past several years because of failing health.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee receives Bharat
| Atal Bihari Vajpayee | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Prime Minister of India | |
| In office 19 March 1998 – 22 May 2004 |
|
| President | K. R. Narayanan A. P. J. Abdul Kalam |
| Vice President | Krishan Kant |
| Deputy | L.K. Advani |
| Preceded by | I. K. Gujral |
| Succeeded by | Manmohan Singh |
| In office 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996 |
|
| President | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| Vice President | Kocheril Raman Narayanan |
| Preceded by | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Succeeded by | H. D. Deve Gowda |
| Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 26 March 1977 – 28 July 1979 |
|
| Prime Minister | Morarji Desai |
| Preceded by | Yashwantrao Chavan |
| Succeeded by | Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 December 1924 Gwalior State |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party (1980–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Before 1977) Janata Party (1977-1980) |
| Alma mater | Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University |
| Profession | Poet Journalist Political activist |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Awards | Padma Vibhushan (1992) Bharat Ratna (2015) |
| Signature |  |
A parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India's Parliament) nine times, and twice to the Rajya Sabha (upper house). He also served as the Member of Parliament for Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, when he retired from active politics due to health concerns. Vajpayee was one amongst the founder members of erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which he had also headed. He was also the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Morarji Desai. When Janata government collapsed, Vajpayee restarted the Jana Sangh as the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980.
On 25 December 2014 the office of President of India announced the Bharat Ratna award, India's highest civilian honour, to Vajpayee. In a special gesture, President of India conferred Bharat Ratna to Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his residence on 27 March 2015.[1] His birthday, 25 December, was declared "Good Governance Day".[2][3]
Contents
- 1 Early life and education
- 2 Early political career (1942–1975)
- 3 Political career (1975–1995)
- 4 As prime minister of India (1996 to 2004)
- 4.1 First term: May 1996
- 4.2 Second term: 1998–1999
- 4.2.1 Nuclear tests
- 4.3 The Lahore summit
- 4.3.1 Kargil War
- 4.4 Third term: 1999–2004
- 4.4.1 Indian Airlines hijack
- 4.4.2 National highway project, foreign policy and economic reforms
- 4.4.3 2001 attack on Parliament
- 4.4.4 2002 Gujarat violence
- 4.4.5 Remainder of term
- 5 2004 general election
- 6 Travel and diplomatic assignments
- 7 Later career
- 8 Personal life and interests
- 9 Health issues
- 10 Awards
- 11 Positions held
- 12 Works
- 12.1 Social and political
- 12.2 Autobiography
- 12.3 Poetry
- 12.4 Speeches
- 13 References
- 14 Further reading
- 15 External links
Early life and education
His activism started with the Arya Kumar Sabha of Gwalior, the youth wing of the Arya Samaj, of which he became the General Secretary in 1944. He also joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a swayamsevak in 1939. Influenced by Babasaheb Apte, he attended the Officers Training Camp of the RSS during 1940-44 and became a "full-time worker" in 1947, technically a pracharak. He gave up studying law due to the partition riots. He was sent as a vistarak (probationary pracharak) to Uttar Pradesh and quickly began working for the newspapers of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Rashtradharma (a Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly) and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun. Vajpayee never married and has remained a bachelor his entire life.[5][6][7]
Early political career (1942–1975)
Vajpayee's first exposure to politics was in August 1942, when he and his elder brother Prem were arrested for 23 days during the Quit India movement, when he was released only after giving a written undertaking, expressly declaring not to participate in any of the anti-British struggle.[8]In 1951, he was seconded by the RSS, along with Deendayal Upadhyaya, to work for the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a Hindu right-wing political party associated with the RSS. He was appointed as a national secretary of the party in charge of the Northern region, based in Delhi. He soon became a follower and aide of party leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee. In 1954, Vajpayee was with Mookerjee when he went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir to protest against perceived inferior treatment of non-Kashmiri Indian visitors to the state. Mookerjee died in prison during this strike. In 1957, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament, from Balrampur. There, his oratorial skills so impressed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that he predicted that Vajpayee would someday become India's Prime Minister.[9]
By virtue of his oratorical and organizational skills, he became the face of the Jana Sangh. After the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the mantle of the leadership of Jana Sangh fell on the shoulders of a young Vajpayee. He became the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 and, along with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and L. K. Advani, led the Jana Sangh to national prominence.
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