New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose first government collapsed in 13 days, completes five years in office on March 19, setting a unique record for a non-Congress leader in steering the one-billion strong Democracy through vicissitudes in domestic and foreign policies, coalition challenges and pitch- forking 'hindutva' in the forefront of the political agenda.

Vajpayee's stay at the top as the country's chief political executive comes after years of instability of non-Congress governments and almost four decades of Congress rule.

The earlier non-Congress Prime Ministers, who all had Congress upbringing, fell like nine-pins with only the late Morarji Desai remaining at the helm for two and a half years as the head of the first Janata experiment in 1977.

While V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral lasted for around 11 months each, Chandra Shekhar was around for four months and Charan Singh for three months, without even facing Parliament.

Once dubbed as a "mukhauta" (mask) by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ideologue Govindacharya, Vajpayee wove a motley combination of political parties, many of them regional, to keep the Congress at bay. And he has been successful at this after the failure during his tenure between 1998 and 1999, but that was due to a petulant Jayalalithaa deciding to pull the rug.

By cobbling up the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Vajpayee ended the "untouchability" syndrome for the BJP, which had turned his first government in 1996 to be a 13-day affair devoid of friends barring parties like the Shiv Sena and Akali Dal.

With a political career spanning five decades, Vajpayee became the natural leader of the NDA due to his image as a sober politician with a liberal aura surrounding him, despite reservations over his party.

The backing of L K Advani, who was instrumental in BJP's phoenix-like rise by leading the Ram Janambhoomi movement in the 1990s, was another factor that catapulted Vajpayee to the top political post.

It was Advani who had first publicly proposed Vajpayee's name for the Prime Ministership, much before the 1996 elections.

The rise of Vajpayee coincided with a period when Congress failed to get its act together in the 1996 and 1998 polls, the first under ageing P V Narasimha Rao, who later got embroiled in corruption cases and the late Sitaram Kesri.

The Pokhran nuclear tests were the high water mark of Vajpayee's Prime Ministership in 1998, but it failed to pay him any political dividends vis-à-vis his allies, which subsequently led to the fall of his government by one vote.

The 13 months as Prime Minister in March 1998 were marred by perpetual pulls and pressures by the likes of Jayalalithaa, Mamata and Samata, making the post a crown of thorns for the poet politician.

It also saw a severe setback to Vajpayee's leadership, when the BJP met its Waterloo in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, as the rising prices of onions brought tears to the eyes of the saffron party.

If there has been a dominating theme in Vajpayee's stint at the top, it is the three 'K's (Kargil, Kandahar and Kashmir). It is a measure of the shrewd politician in him that he successfully transformed a Pakistan army sponsored intrusion in Kargil into a victory and returned to power in 1999.

Kandahar marked the low point in Vajpayee's third tenure in contrast to the bus journey to Lahore, which was one of the bold initiatives of his Prime Ministership almost an year before the IC-814 hijack.

The terrorism menace as illustrated by the Kandahar hijack has continued to trouble Vajpayee's government ever since and things came to such a pass that the heart of Indian Democracy – Parliament House – was attacked by terrorists on December 13, 2001.

The December 13 attack was preceded by a militant strike on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly and the failed Agra summit, which was one more attempt to mend fences with Pakistan in the post-Kargil period.

Despite BJP harping on a hardline on Kashmir when it was in the Opposition, the NDA rule witnessed matters worsening in the sensitive border state, with no signs of any let up in the Pakistan sponsored cross border terrorism.

The aftermath of December 13 saw India's relations with Pakistan touching a new low and armed forces of the two countries in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation for about a year on the borders.

Earlier, in a bid to disentangle the Kashmir imbroglio, Vajpayee had also declared unilateral ceasefire by the security forces in the state, but with no success.

However, the credit goes to Vajpayee for the successful conduct of Assembly elections in the strife-torn state, which even independent observers conceded as free and fair.

On domestic front, Vajpayee's leadership could not save the BJP from losing citadel after citadel to the Sonia Gandhi led Congress, which now rules in 16-odd states. BJP emerged a poor third in the politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh and Vajpayee had to align once again with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to retain power.

Despite the defeats, his leadership remained unscathed as he maintained a teflon image. A Narendra Modi inspired BJP victory in Gujarat last year provided a big morale booster for the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls, till the Himachal polls sought to neutralise it.

A highlight of his third tenure was the gradual sidelining of the coalition partners, which gained further momentum after BJP's Gujarat victory. Now there is a certain stridency in BJP's talk of 'hindutva' as well as in the rantings of the 'sangh parivar' outfits.

The biggest crisis for the Prime Minister came when the Tehelka expose broke out on March 13, 2001, tainting the BJP's image of being a "party with a difference", as its President Bangaru Laxman was caught on camera taking bribes from journalists masquerading as defence dealers.

Vajpayee's tenure also saw rumblings within 'sangh parivar', what with the likes of K C Sudarshan, Praveen Togadia and Dattopant Thengdi constantly breathing down his neck.

The septuagenarian leader, who underwent knee replacement surgery two years back, had left Delhi twice for the operation, but did not formally name a second in command during his absence from the Capital.

But in July 2002, he elevated Advani to the post of Deputy Prime Minister, thereby putting at rest all speculation about an internecine struggle at the top.

But observers say he has virtually named his successor.

Notwithstanding stiff opposition from the 'sangh parivar', Vajpayee continued the process of economic reforms including disinvestment, but opted for the middle path of non-confrontation.

His pet initiative was the national highways project, which is likely to be emulated in other infrastructure related schemes as well.

Vajpayee, despite doubts among economists, talks of his keenness to ensure an eight per cent annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth. He has also taken initiatives for the interlinking of rivers.

PTI