Atal Bihari Vajpayee thrice served as the Prime Minister, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, for 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and then from 1999 to 2004. Atal Bihari Vajpayee joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1939, and in 1951, was seconded to its political wing, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He steadily rose in its hierarchy and became its national president in 1968.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the first non-Congress leader to serve a full term in power, died on Thursday at the AIIMS where he had been undergoing treatment for a kidney ailment since June. Renowned for his powerful oratory and poetry, Vajpayee, 93, one of the founder members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), served as prime minister for 13 days in 1996, 13 months (1998-99) at the head of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and then for a full five year term (1999-2004).He had announced his retirement from electoral politics in 2005 and withdrew further from public life in 2009 after suffering a stroke that weakened his cognitive abilities. Subsequently, he developed dementia.

Born in Gwalior on December 25, 1924, Vajpayee joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1939, and in 1951, was seconded to its political wing, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He steadily rose in its hierarchy and became its national president in 1968. After the Janata Party’s collapse, Vajpayee, along with long-time associate LK Advani and others, set up the BJP in 1980. A parliamentarian for over four decades, he was conferred the Bharat Ratna in 2015. Vajpayee became the first person to deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in Hindi. The three-time former PM along with LK Advani and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat formed the BJP in 1980.

Bollywood celebrities pay their tributes to one of the greatest politician of our nation: