Sabarimuthu V

13 Months in Office Sabarimuthu V

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Mr. A. B. Vajpayee emerged as the single largest party in the 1996 general election in India, President of India Mr. Sankar Dayal Sharma invited him to form a government. Accordingly, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee took oath as the Prime Minister of India on 16 May 1996. However, he failed to gather majority support. Therefore, he resigned after 16 days. After that, Mr. H. D. Deve Gowda took over as the Prime Minister of India, on 1 June 1996, with the outside support of the Congress Party. However, the Congress Party withdrew its outside support and brought down his United Front (UF) Government on 11 April 1997. He continued until 21 April 1997. The coalition parties - Congress Party included- chose Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral as his successor. He functioned as the Prime Minister of India from 21 April 1997 to 19 March 1998. In the 1998 general election, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee led the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and got majority support. The President of India administered the oath of office to him as the Prime Minister of India on 19 March 1998. The ruling class- a group of people controlling the public mind in India- wanted him to be a powerful prime minister commanding maximum public support. He imposed his will upon the land. The media projected him as a great leader. A series of actions -nuclear explosions, missile tests and some other incidents like the Kargil battle- secured him a place in the mind of the people. In April 1999, Miss. J. Jayalalithaa withdrew the support of her party -AIADMK- to the 13-month old government. In the ensuing confidence motion, the Government lost by a single vote on 17 April 1999. She did it without any reasonable cause or provocation. Some people felt that the ruling class prevailed upon her to withdraw her support to him so that he could emerge as a stronger leader after the election. He continued as the caretaker Prime Minister until 13 October 1999. He did not reveal his mind to the people during his rule. This book deals with his rule from 19 March 1998 to 17 April 1999 and as the caretaker Prime Minister from 17 April 1999 to 13 October 1999. It discusses the Pokran II nuclear blasts, the Indo-US talks after the blast, the bilateral relationship of India with other countries after the blast, Kargil intrusion, Kargil battle, the bus journey undertaken by Prime Minister of India Mr. A. B. Vajpayee to Pakistan and the mode of functioning of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during his rule vividly. The diplomacy of Mr. A. B. Vajpayee to solve the repercussions of the nuclear blasts would benefit the readers interested in politics.