New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Atal Bihari Vajpyee, a three-time Prime Minister of India, was a beloved leader and was highly respected across the country. Today is the 95th birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister of India. On his birth anniversary, PM Modi, President Kovind, Home Minister Amit Shah and other politicians paid respect to him.

The former PM was also known as the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of the Indian politics. As we celebrate his 95th birth anniversary, here some interesting facts about the former Prime Minister of India:

* Vajpayee always wanted to become a journalist but entered politics by mistake, he had said in an interview.

* The former PM of India was known for his oratory skills, which was on display when he defended the nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1998. “It is surprising that people are criticising the nuclear tests. When in 1974 then prime minister Indira Gandhi had carried out the tests, we welcomed it even while we were in the opposition. Was there any threat to the nation at the time,” he had said in the parliament.

* He was a member of the Parliament for over five decades. He was elected for Lok Sabha for ten times and twice to the Rajya Sabha.

* He was among the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS). The BJS merged with several other parties to form the Janata Party, which won the 1977 general election.

* Atal Bihari Vajpayee never married. When a journalist asked why didn’t marry, Vajpayee jokingly replied, “I stay so busy that I forgot.”

* He was conferred with Bharat Ratna by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee in 2015. He was also honoured with Padma Vibhushana in 1992 and the Best Parliamentarian award in 1994.

* His birth anniversary is celebrated as ‘Good Governance Day’.

* Vajpayee loved non-veg food and prawn was his favourite food.

* Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a lot impressed with his oratory skills and had said that he would become Prime Minister of India one day.

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* He was the first non-Congress Prime Minister to serve a full term of five years in the office. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first External Affairs Minister (EAM) to deliver a Speech in Hindi at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

* Vajpayee released two albums with Jagjit Singh featuring his poems: Nayi Disha (1999) and Samvedna (2002).

* He was also a close follower of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

* He also translated multiple poems of Veer Savarkar from Marathi to Hindi as he was very fluent in Marathi.

* To improve relations with Pakistan, he inaugurated the historic Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999.


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