Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 25 December 1924) is an Indian statesman who was the 10th 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 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. His birthday, 25 December, was declared “Good Governance Day“.

Former Prime Ministers and the  “Bhishma Pitamah” of Indian Politics, Atal Bihari Vajpayee may no longer be involved in active politics but the countrymen remember the legacy one of India’s most admired political leader.

A poet by heart and an orator par excellence, Vajpayee’s fiery speeches and witty replies often left the listeners in awe and the opposition in jitters.

Here are a few witty quotes by our beloved Atal Ji

Global interdependence today means that economic disasters in developing countries could create a backlash on developed countries.

Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, health care, political participation and advancement of one’s own culture and social organisation.

People who ask us when we will hold talks with Pakistan are perhaps not aware that over the last 55 years, every initiative for a dialogue with Pakistan has invariably come from India.

You can change friends but not neighbours.

Our nuclear weapons are meant purely as a deterrent against nuclear adventure by an adversary.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee