Former Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away

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Former Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee passes away

Vajpayee was admitted to hospital on June 11 with a kidney tract infection and chest congestion.

By Reuters

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Published: Fri 17 Aug 2018, 6:50 AM

Last updated: Fri 17 Aug 2018, 11:19 AM

Former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who ordered nuclear tests to make India a nuclear weapons power and travelled by bus to Pakistan in a grand diplomatic gesture, died on Thursday, the hospital where he was being treated said in a statement. He was 93.
A poet-politician, Vajpayee was one of the most popular leaders of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Modi said Vajpayee's stewardship had put India on a fast track to growth.

"It was Atal Ji's exemplary leadership that set the foundations for a strong, prosperous and inclusive India in the 21st century," Modi said in a tweet.
Vajpayee served as prime minister briefly in 1996 then again from 1998 to 2004.
"Former PM, Atal Behari Vajpayee was loved and respected by millions. My condolences to his family & all his admirers. We will miss him," Rahul Gandhi, president of the opposition Congress party, tweeted.
Vajpayee suffered a stroke in 2009 and retreated from public view. Leaders of the BJP were gathering at his home in New Delhi to pay their respects.
Vajpayee was one of the few leaders of the BJP to express anguish when hundreds of Muslims were killed rioting in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat.
Vajpayee was not afraid to take risks. He gave the go-ahead for underground nuclear tests in 1998 believing nuclear weapons would be deterrent against China and Pakistan.


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