The last of the old school statesman, the poet and the first ever non-Congress Prime Minister to complete a five year term in office, the doyen of Indian politics Atal Bihari Vajpayee is no more! The ‘Haar Nahi Manuga’ writer, the Parliamentarian, the orator without peers and the most respected Opposition Leader in both the Houses of Indian Parliament, breathed his last in Capital’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Friday evening. End came at 5-05 pm. He was admitted to the premier hospital on June 11 and was on life support system for over last 46 hours. Mr Vajpayee has been out of public life since 2009. He has not being doing well physically since 2011 with mental abilities being on the wane ever since. Born in the city of Gwalior (then Capital of the Gwalior State), on Dec. 25, 1924, Atal ji, as he was popularly known, became Prime Minister of India thrice -- first for 13 days (May16, 1996 - June 1, 1996), second for eleven months in 1997 and a full 5-year term (March 19, 1998 – May 22, 2004). His term as non-Cong PM was preceded by several brief experiments with Chaudahry Charan Singh, V.P. Singh, Chandrasekhar, H D Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. The ten times Lok Sabha and two times Rajya Sabha Member was also the Union Minister for External Affairs from March 26, 1977 - July 28, 1979 in Moraji Desai Government of Janata Party that came into power after 18 months of Emergency promulgated by Mrs Indira Gandhi. His full term as Prime Minister is remembered for Nuclear Test-II at Pokhran, the bus service to Lahore, the grand victory in Kargil war, also known as Operation Vijay, the Golden Quadrangle of National Highways, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, continued economic reforms of Narsimha Rao Government and normalisation of Centre-State relations. Son of a poet & schoolmaster, Vajpayee did his schooling from Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Gwalior. He attended Gwalior’s Victoria College (Now Laxmi Bai College) and graduated with distinction in Hindi, English & Sanskrit. For his post-graduation, he studied M.A. Political Science from D.A.V. College, Kanpur (under Agra University) with a first class degree. The writer and a poet, Atal ji, began his public life with Arya Kumar Sabha (Youth Wing of Arya Samaaj) and became its General Secretary in 1944. He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1939 and was a full time ‘Pracharak’ when the country got freedom in 1947. He gave up law studies because of partition riots and was sent to Uttar Pradesh as a ‘Vistarak’ (Probationary Pracharak). There, he began his journalistic career in Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya’s newspapers ‘Rashtra Dharma’ (Hindi monthly), ‘Panchjanya’ (Hindi weekly) & dailies ‘Swadesh’ & ‘Vir Arjun’. He, along with his elder brother Prem Vajpayee, was arrested for 23 days during ‘Quit India Movement’ in August 1942. They were released after giving a written undertaking that they would not participate in Anti-British struggle and they kept their promise. Atal ji, never married and remained a Bachelor through his life. President of India nominated him for the highest award of the land Bharat Ratna on his 90th birthday Dec. 25, 2014. This was also declared as the ‘Good Governance Day.’ Besides all these, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government needs to be credited for creation of new departments like Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Department of North-East Region and converting the Social Welfare Ministry into the Ministry of Social Justice. He was probably the last Parliamentarian who despite being the Leader of Opposition was sent by Prime Minister Narsimha Rao as the Peace Ambassador to a third country. Known for his forceful oration with long pauses, he made a definite impact with his signature style. Contributed by Avinash Singh and Sarthak Tiwari