Indian prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee (born 1926), served briefly as India's head of state in 1996. Two year later he reclaimed that leadership role when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mustered enough support in parliament to lead a coalition government. Vajpayee was a popular leader who spent his entire career in service to his country. He was known to distance himself from Hindu extremists within his party. He was re-elected as prime minister in 1999.

Vajpayee was born December 25, 1926, in the central Indian city of Gwalior, Madahya Pradesh. He was one of seven children of Shri Krishna Behari, a secondary school teacher and Hindu scholar. The family belonged to the Brahmin caste, the highest social level in Indian society. As a teenager, Vajpayee joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a secret right-wing Hindu youth organization whose name means "National Voluntary Service." He participated in the movement to liberate India from British...