Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari were on Wednesday chosen for the countrys highest civilian award Bharat Ratna. The President has been pleased to award Bharat Ratna to Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya (posthumously) and to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a press communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan said. Here are things you should know about Atal Bihari Vajpayee: 1. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on December 25, 1924 in Gwalior. 2. As a teenager, Vajpayee was jailed briefly for opposing British colonial rule. He flirted with communism before choosing to support the Rashtriya Swamyamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Jan Sangh. 3. Vajpayee dropped out of law school to run an RSS magazine in the early 1950s. Later, he transcended his political roots in the RSS to emerge as the moderate voice of the BJP. 4. His involvement in politics began as a freedom-fighter during the Quit India Movement of 1942-1945. He started out as a communist but shed that for membership in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an organization propounding Hindutva, or Hindu Nationalism and considered Right-Wing in Indian politics. 5. Vajpayee became a close follower and aide to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), BJPs predecessor. 6. Vajpayee was at Mookerjees side when he went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir in 1953, to protest against the system of carrying a permit for entering the state and the inferior treatment of Indian citizens visiting Kashmir, as also the special treatment accorded to Kashmir because it had a Muslim majority. Mookerjees fast and protest ended the identity card requirement, and hastened the integration of Kashmir into the Indian Union. But Mookherjee died after weeks of weakness, illness and confinement in jail. These events were a watershed moment for the young Vajpayee. 7. Taking the baton from Mookerjee, Vajpayee won his first election to Parliament in 1957.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:03:10 +0000
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