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Moderate face of BJP, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, conferred Bharat Ratna

Moderate face of BJP, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, conferred Bharat Ratna

By :  DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-03-27 15:24 GMT
Often described as the moderate face of BJP, charismatic Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an iconic leader whose acceptability across the political spectrum broke barriers pitch forking the saffron party to centre stage of politics in the late 90s. 
 In
It was during this period that India conducted a series of successive nuclear tests at Pokhran in May 1998.
 Vajpayee showering flowers to a dancer during Holi celebration at his residence in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
Widely respected within the country and abroad as a statesman of the genre of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vajpayee's 1998-99 tenure as prime minister was characterised as one year of courage of conviction. 
 In photo: Vajpayee shakes hands with then Pakistan
The compulsions of coalition politics forced BJP to put on the backburner issues dear to its heart-- scrapping of special status for Jammu and Kashmir, building a Hindu temple on the site of the mosque in Ayodhya and adopting a uniform civil code.
His government collapsed after AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa withdrew her support from the coalition. He was re-elected in 1999 at the head of a more stable coalition that lasted its full term.
 In photo: Congress President Sonia Gandhi meeting with
He lasted only 13 days as prime minister for lack of numbers. The lack of a stable majority ended his second stint in power from 1998 after 13 months. 
 Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with his Thai Counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra before
Vajpayee first became Prime Minister in 1996 after four decades in opposition
 In photo: A B Vajpayee with US Secretary Colin Powell at his residence in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
Vajpayee's diplomatic breakthrough was hailed as the dawn of a new era in Indo-Pak relations. But it was another story that Pakistan army undertook a covert operation to send its troops into Kargil that led to a limited conflict that Pakistan lost
Undeterred by party hawks who accused him of embarking on a misdirected visit to Pakistan in 1999, Vajpayee, who is India's longest serving prime minister outside Congress party, rode triumphantly into Lahore aboard a bus, on an initiative that was
His detractors used to call him a "mask" of the RSS, his benign smile of moderation hiding his party's links with Hindu groups.
 In Photo: Narendra Modi seeks blessings of senior BJP leader and former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. (Photo: PTI)
It was Vajpayee's sway that brought in 1998 new allies to BJP, once considered a virtual untouchable in view of its rightist leanings, especially after demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. (Photo: PTI)
An orator par excellence and known for taking bold initiatives, notable being the attempt to bridge differences in Indo-Pak relations, Vajpayee, who is lauded as a statesman politician, went far beyond his BJP's nationalist political agenda.
 In
Moderate face of BJP, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, conferred Bharat Ratna

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