B.K. Bangash/AP.
|
ATAL BEHARI VAJPAYEE
Atal Behari Vajpayee, India's 76-year-old Prime Minister, brings to this summit
decades of experience in politics, skill at finding points of agreement, and a
reputation for moderation. He did not become Prime Minister in 1996 (and again
in 1998 and then in 1999) because of any hard-line ideology, or hands-on, can-do
management. He is the good man, thoughtful and witty, a poet and writer, and the
man experienced in government who everyone can accept.
Most of his political life has been spent in opposition fighting India's
Congress party under Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi, both
inside and outside parliament. A founding member of the Hindu-nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he was jailed without trial by Gandhi during the
Emergency she imposed in 1975 to deal with her political opponents. Vajpayee
bounced back in the 1977 general elections and became foreign minister of
India's first non-Congress Party government.
Vajpayee has said privately that he would like to be remembered for normalizing
relations between India and Pakistan, and settling the Kashmir dispute. If that
doesn't happen, his greatest achievement will be to have governed India for so
long as the leader of its largest coalition government, and to have given it
political stability. No other Indian political leader has managed more than a
few months at the helm of New Delhi's coalitions. His is quite an achievement.
|
|
|
 |
INTERVIEW ARCHIVE
June 11, 2001
'I Would Pay Any Price for Peace in Kashmir'
TIME talks to Indian politician Omar Abdullah
Dec. 12, 2000
'Unlike the Indians, We Don't Talk Peace and Practice War'
Indian separatist leader Thuingaleng Muivah on his arrest and his hopes for a cease-fire in the country's northeast
Oct. 10, 2000
'Pakistan Supports the Kashmir Struggle Diplomatically, Politically, Morally'
Web-only interview with Pakistan's High Commissioner in New Delhi Ashraf Jehangir Qazi
Sept. 19, 2000
'More Nuclear Tests Make Sense'
Web-only interview with retired Indian Navy rear admiral Raja Menon
June 27, 2000
'The U.S. Won't Dump Pakistan'
Exclusive interview with former Indian Ambassador to the U.S Abid Hussain
June 27, 2000
'Another Kargil is Already Occurring'
India risks losing another important battle, the hearts and minds of Kashmiri people, says Ashok K. Mehta
June 12, 2000
Distant Memories
The ghosts of Kargil have been buried, says Indian sociologist Ashish Nandy
June 7, 2000
Two-Faced
India's real threat comes not from Pakistan but China, says defense analyst Brahma Chellaney
May 22, 2000
'We Are Victims of Terrorism'
Interview with former Indian Prime Minister Inder K. Gujral
Feb. 11, 2000
'Kashmir is not an animal to be carved up'
Exclusive interview with recently released Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik
|
|
|
