Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a romantic at heart, Vajpayee wrote poetry in his spare time, and was a connoisseur of good food. He was born on December 25, 1924 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh to a schoolteacher, Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, and Krishna Devi and today, his birthday is celebrated as ‘Good Governance Day'. Meanwhile after schooling, he graduated from Victoria College in Gwalior, now known as Laxmi Bai College.
Furthermore he did his M.A. in political science from DAV College in Kanpur. Following a brief flirtation with communism, he became a full time worker of RSS in 1947. Moreover Vajpayee subsequently entered journalism and was editor of Rashtradharma, a Hindi monthly, the Panchjanya Hindi weekly and the dailies, Swadesh and Veer Arjun.
Further he became a close follower of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder
of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor to Jana Sangh and later the BJP
and further under Mookerjee's tutelage, Vajpayee's right-wing philosophy
shaped. Moreover Vajpayee accompanied Mookerjee to Kashmir in early 1950s
during the BJS leader's fast unto death to protest the identity card
requirement for Indian citizens visiting the state. Accordingly Vajpayee is
survived by his adopted daughter, Namita Kaul Bhattacharya.
