Atal Bihari Vajpayee 1924-2018

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee looks out into the sunset at a sea resort in Goa, where he was spending the year-end. The Prime Minister's musings from Goa were released on December 31, 2002.

The Committee on Communalism, set up by the first National Integration Council convened by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961, seen here in session in New Delhi with Ashok Mehta (second from left) as its chairperson. EMS Namboodiripad, Ashok Mehta, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Indira Gandhi are seen from left to right. The committee examined a number of eminent persons in public life to arrive at a definition of communalism but it folded up suddenly after the Chinese invasion of October 1962 in the midst of a nationalist upsurge.

After shaking up the world with sudden nuclear tests on May 11, 1998, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seen visiting the underground nuclear test sites at Pokhran in Rajasthan on May 20, 1998. Defence Minister George Fernandes and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who later became President of India, are also seen.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee undertook a historical journey on a bus to Lahore from Delhi on February 20, 1999, where he met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and signed a peace accord. Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif are seen here waving to the crowd on the Pakistani premier’s arrival at the Wagah border. Actor Dev Anand, Union Minister Jaswant Singh and other members of the peace delegation are also seen. Photo: The Hindu Archives.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation Leader Yasser Arafat meeting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi on August 18, 2000. Photo: S. Ameja.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee relied much on the counsel of his senior Cabinet colleagues, especially L.K. Advani. Here, he is seen with Advani and Jaswant Singh at the swearing in of new BJP ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on September 30, 2000. Photo: Kamal Narang.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s archery skills have everyone, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in splits at Ram Lila celebrations in Subhash Maidan in New Delhi on May 25, 2002. Photo: Anu Pushkarna.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, greets Prime Minister Vajpayee during her visit to New Delhi on June 5, 2002. It was Jayalalithaa’s sudden withdrawal of support from the Vajpayee government in 1999 that necessitated snap polls in September-October 1999, when the NDA stormed back to power with the support of the DMK. Photo: Frontline.

A legacy of Vajpayee’s regime was improved relations with Pakistan. In this 2002 photo, Prime Minister Vajpayee is seen according Pakistan President, General Parvez Musharraf, a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee chats with the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi during a public meeting in Vadodara, 125 km, (75 miles) south of Ahmedabad, on December 7, 2002. Months after the February-March Gujarat riots where thousands of Muslims were killed in a pogrom, Vajpayee was in Gujarat to campaign for the Bhartiya Janata Party. Photo: AP.

He is known to have friends across party lines. Prime Minister Vajpayee being greeted by former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao (Left) and I.K. Gujral on his 78th Birthday in New Delhi on December 25, 2002. Photo S. Arneja.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee hugs Harish Chandra Mehra in New Delhi on January 24, 2003. Mehra was awarded the first National Bravery Award in 1958 by then Prime Minister Late Jawaharlal Nehru for having saved the lives of Nehru and other dignitaries when a fire broke out during the Ram Lila celebrations at the Red Fort on October 2, 1957. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt.

Prime Minister Vajpayee and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader K. S. Sudarshan cross each other during the cremation of Hindu spiritual leader Ramachandra Paramhans in Ayodhya, on August 1, 2003. Thousands of weeping devotees bade farewell to Paramhans who died on July 31 that year after trying for half a century to build a temple on the ruins of a disputed 16th-century mosque, the Babri Masjid, which was razed to the ground by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992. Vajpayee joined the RSS at the age of 15. However, he had a troubled relationship with his spiritual and ideological mentor. Photo: AP.

Prime Minister Vajpayee seen here with N. Ram, then Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, S. Rangarajan, Managing Director, and G. Kasturi, former Editor, at The Hindu's 125th Anniversary celebrations at the Madras University Centenary Auditorium in Chennai on September 13, 2003. Photo: Shaju John.

Vajpayee was considered an ‘acceptable’ leader by most political parties in India. Soon after the AIADMK pulled out of the NDA in 1999 necessitating snap polls, the DMK joined the NDA ranks and the alliance came back to power in the ensuing elections in September-October the same year. Prime Minister Vajpayee along with Defence Minister George Fernandez, and former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral, is seen here with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi at the funeral of Union Minister Murasoli Maran in Chennai on November 24, 2003. Photo: Vino John.

Vajpayee’s Pakistan policy had earned him many friends. Here, the Prime Minister is photographed with former Pakistan Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, at his residence in New Delhi on December 12, 2003. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty.

President Pranab Mukherjee conferring the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India, on Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his residence in New Delhi on Friday, March 27, 2015. Photo: PTI.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee clicked during a photo session at his residence in New Delhi on March 25, 2004. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty.