Year in Review 1998 Vajpayee, Atal Bihari

In May 1998 India exploded five nuclear bombs in quick succession, reminding the world that the nuclear era was far from over. Though condemnation for the acts was nearly universal in the West, India's newly elected prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, struck a defiant tone. Undaunted by the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Japan and supported by his countrymen, Vajpayee declared that "India has the sanction of her own past glory and future vision to become strong." Prior to elections in early 1998, Vajpayee had been viewed by many as the moderate face of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Vajpayee was born on Dec. 25, 1926, in the town of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He became politically active as a teenager and was briefly jailed by the British colonial administration. Though initially attracted to communism, he became disillusioned when the communists supported the creation of Pakistan in the 1940s. Vajpayee dropped out of law school and became editor of a publication run by the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a self-defense force created in 1925 to protect Hindus in riots and promote Hindu culture.

Vajpayee was first elected to Parliament in 1957 as a member of the Jan Sangh, a forerunner of the BJP. During Indira Gandhi's rule as prime minister under a state of emergency (1975-77), he was jailed along with thousands of opposition members. In the late '70s Vajpayee served as foreign minister and earned a reputation for improving relations with Pakistan and China. He helped found the BJP in 1980, but his moderation was overpowered by hard-liners. Vajpayee--one of the few Hindu leaders to speak out against the 1992 destruction of the historic Muslim mosque at Ayodhya--was sworn in as prime minister in May 1996 but served only 13 days in office, failing to attract needed support from other parties. In 1998 the BJP won a record number of seats but was forced to make a shaky alliance with regional parties, many of which opposed Hindu nationalism.

Though Vajpayee had campaigned on the promise of international "peace and reconciliation" and been praised for his eloquence, integrity, and conciliatory gestures toward India's 120 million Muslim minority, relations with Pakistan deteriorated in the months following the nuclear explosions. Despite pleas from the international community urging India and Pakistan to hold peace talks, Vajpayee and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan found it difficult even to agree on the topics open for discussion.

BENJAMIN SCHALET