Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: Government of India, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Government Open Data License – India
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
- Country
- India
- Era
- 1924–2018
- Tradition
- National conservatism
India’s first non-Congress Prime Minister to complete a full term, who conducted nuclear tests, accelerated privatisation and road building, and pursued talks with Pakistan.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998 and the declaration of India as a nuclear weapons state
- Created a dedicated Department of Disinvestment and privatised several public sector firms
- Golden Quadrilateral highway programme and the rural roads scheme
- Lahore Declaration (1999) and the Agra summit, seeking normalisation with Pakistan
- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a national universal elementary education programme
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
64
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
66
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
50
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Documented
Tradition and change
34
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Documented
Nation and the world
82
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Religion and the state
62
Secular stateReligion in public life
Evidence: Documented
Power and its limits
58
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Environment and growth, Crime and punishment
Sources
- Lahore Declaration · 1999
- Department of Disinvestment policy papers · Government of India · 1999–2004
Last verified: