Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of India's most important modern political leaders, died Aug. 16. Vajpayee left an enduring mark on his country's politics and its policies. He will be most remembered as the man who oversaw nuclear tests that officially signaled India's entry into the club of countries that possess nuclear weapons, thereby launching an arms race and nuclear confrontation with its neighbor, Pakistan. Significantly, however, Vajpayee likewise strove to ensure that relations with Islamabad remained peaceful. Vajpayee also played key roles in building his country's relationship with Japan.
Born in the central city of Gwalior in 1924, Vajpayee was one of seven children in a family whose father was a schoolteacher and Hindu scholar. As a teenager, he joined the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a group that was briefly banned after a former member assassinated Mohandas Gandhi in 1948. He studied politics at university and became a social worker and later a journalist. He joined a then-new Hindu nationalist political party, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which became the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently the ruling party in India.
His parliamentary career began in 1957, when he was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament. He was re-elected nine times and also served two terms in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house. A distinguished orator, he was considered an intellectual with a populist touch, a nationalist who was not a fanatic. He was also known as one of India's few uncorruptable politicians.