Editing Atal Bihari Vajpayee (section)

=== Second term: 1998–1999 ===
{{See also|Second Vajpayee ministry}}
After the fall of the two [[Third Front (India)|United Front]] governments between 1996 and 1998, the Lok Sabha was dissolved and fresh elections were held. The [[1998 Indian general election|1998 general elections]] again put the BJP ahead of others. A number of political parties joined the BJP to form the [[National Democratic Alliance (India)|National Democratic Alliance]] (NDA), and Vajpayee was sworn in as the prime minister.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/india_elections/61761.stm|title=Atal Bihari Vajpayee: India's new prime minister|publisher=BBC|access-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205150717/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/india_elections/61761.stm|archive-date=5 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The coalition was an uneasy one,<ref name="BBC1" /> as apart from the [[Shiv Sena (1966–2022)|Shiv Sena]], none of the other parties espoused the BJP's Hindu-nationalist ideology.{{sfn|Guha|2007|p=662}} Vajpayee has been credited for managing this coalition successfully, while facing ideological pressure from the hardline wing of the party and from the RSS.<ref name="Nag" /> Vajpayee's government lasted 13 months until mid-1999 when the [[All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam]] (AIADMK) under [[J. Jayalalithaa]] withdrew its support.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/322065.stm|title=Vajpayee's thirteen months|publisher=BBC|access-date=24 July 2017|archive-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225003130/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/322065.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The government lost the ensuing vote of confidence motion in the Lok Sabha by a single vote on 17 April 1999.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=818}} As the opposition was unable to come up with the numbers to form the new government, the Lok Sabha was again dissolved and fresh elections were held.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/cp19990428.pdf |title=Election Commission of India - Press Note |access-date=17 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010212856/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/cp19990428.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Nuclear tests ====
{{See also|Pokhran-II}}
In May 1998, India conducted [[Pokhran-II|five underground nuclear tests]] in the [[Pokhran]] desert in [[Rajasthan]], 24 years after its first nuclear test, operation [[Smiling Buddha]] in 1974. Two weeks later, Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests making it the newest nation with declared nuclear capability.{{sfn|Guha|2007|pp=673–675}} While some nations, such as France, endorsed India's right to defensive nuclear power,{{sfn|Ajai K. Rai|2009|p=162}} others including the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain and the [[European Union]] imposed sanctions on information, resources and technology to India. In spite of intense international criticism and steady decline in foreign investment and trade, the nuclear tests were popular domestically. In effect, the international sanctions imposed failed to sway India from weaponising its nuclear capability. US sanctions against India and Pakistan were eventually lifted after just six months.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Morrow|first1=Daniel|last2=Carriere|first2=Michael|date=Fall 1999|title=The economic impacts of the 1998 sanctions on India and Pakistan|url=https://www.nonproliferation.org/wp-content/uploads/npr/morrow64.pdf|page=10|access-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808155139/http://www.nonproliferation.org/wp-content/uploads/npr/morrow64.pdf|archive-date=8 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Lahore summit ====
In late 1998 and early 1999, Vajpayee began a push for a full-scale diplomatic peace process with Pakistan. With the historic inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999, Vajpayee initiated a new peace process aimed towards permanently resolving the Kashmir dispute and other conflicts with Pakistan. The resultant [[Lahore Declaration]] espoused a commitment to dialogue, expanded trade relations and mutual friendship and envisaged a goal of denuclearised South Asia. This eased the tension created by the 1998 nuclear tests, not only within the two nations but also in South Asia and the rest of the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9902/21/india.pakistan/index.html|title=CNN – Leaders of Pakistan, India pledge to work toward peace – February 21, 1999|publisher=CNN|access-date=17 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131041558/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9902/21/india.pakistan/index.html|archive-date=31 January 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Maggsi, Amjad Abbas. "Lahore Declaration February, 1999 A Major Initiative for Peace in South Asia." ''Pakistan Vision'' 14, no. 1 (2013): 183.</ref>

==== AIADMK's withdrawal from the NDA ====
The AIADMK had continually threatened to withdraw from the coalition and national leaders repeatedly flew down from Delhi to Chennai to pacify the AIADMK general secretary [[J. Jayalalithaa]]. However, in May 1999, the AIADMK withdrew from NDA, and the Vajpayee administration was reduced to a caretaker status pending [[1999 Indian general election|fresh elections scheduled for October 1999]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asiasociety.org/publications/indian_elections.13.a.html |title=The Thirteenth Election of India's Lok Sabha |last=Oldenburg |first=Philip |date=September 1999 |publisher=The Asia Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604152951/http://www.asiasociety.org/publications/indian_elections.13.a.html |archive-date=4 June 2008 }}</ref>

==== Kargil War ====
[[File:Indian Border Security Force with Prime Minister Vajpayee and Defence Minister, George Fernandes.png|thumb|Prime Minister Vajpayee with Indian troops and other dignitaries at Kargil after the war in 1999]]
{{Further|Kargil War}}

In May 1999 some Kashmiri shepherds discovered the presence of militants and non-uniformed Pakistani soldiers (many with official identifications and [[Pakistan Army]]'s custom weaponry) in the Kashmir Valley, where they had taken control of border hilltops and unmanned border posts. The incursion was centred around the town of [[Kargil]], but also included the [[Batalik]] and [[Akhnoor]] sectors and artillery exchanges at the [[Siachen Glacier]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/sjir/3.1.06_kapur-narang.html|title=SJIR: The Fate of Kashmir : International Law or Lawlessness?|website=web.stanford.edu|access-date=17 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012061736/https://web.stanford.edu/group/sjir/3.1.06_kapur-narang.html|archive-date=12 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Guha|2007|pp=675–678}}

The Indian army responded with Operation Vijay, which launched on 26 May 1999. This saw the Indian military fighting thousands of militants and soldiers in the midst of heavy artillery shelling and while facing extremely cold weather, snow and treacherous terrain at the high altitude.{{sfn|Myra|2017|pp=27–66}} Over 500 Indian soldiers were killed in the three-month-long Kargil War, and it is estimated around 600–4,000 Pakistani militants and soldiers died as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://164.100.24.208/lsq/quest.asp?qref=51302|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202045832/http://164.100.24.208/lsq/quest.asp?qref=51302|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 December 2008|title=PARLIAMENT QUESTIONS, LOK SABHA|date=2 December 2008|access-date=17 August 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Rodrigo|2006|p=}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2003/08/17/stories/2003081702900800.htm|title=Over 4,000 soldiers killed in Kargil: Sharif|access-date=17 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040531145342/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2003/08/17/stories/2003081702900800.htm|archive-date=31 May 2004|url-status=dead|date=17 August 2003|last1=Reddy|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|first1=B. Muralidhar}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-pak-quietly-names-453-men-killed-in-kargil-war/20101118.htm|title=Pak quietly names 453 men killed in Kargil war|work=Rediff.com|access-date=17 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627173200/http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-pak-quietly-names-453-men-killed-in-kargil-war/20101118.htm|archive-date=27 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> India pushed back the Pakistani militants and [[Northern Light Infantry]] soldiers. Almost 70% of the territory was recaptured by India.{{sfn|Myra|2017|pp=27–66}} Vajpayee sent a "secret letter" to U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] that if Pakistani infiltrators did not withdraw from the Indian territory, "we will get them out, one way or the other".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-was-ready-to-cross-loc-use-nuclear-weapons-in-kargil-war-115120300518_1.html|title=India was ready to cross LoC, use nuclear weapons in Kargil war|last=Team|first=BS Web|date=3 December 2015|work=Business Standard India|access-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609100347/http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-was-ready-to-cross-loc-use-nuclear-weapons-in-kargil-war-115120300518_1.html|archive-date=9 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

After Pakistan suffered heavy losses, and with both the United States and China refusing to condone the incursion or threaten India to stop its military operations, General [[Pervez Musharraf]] was [[recalcitrant]] and [[Nawaz Sharif]] asked the remaining militants to stop and withdraw to positions along the LoC.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/14/the-story-of-how-nawaz-sharif-pulled-back-from-nuclear-war/|title=The story of how Nawaz Sharif pulled back from nuclear war|website=Foreign Policy|date=14 May 2013 |access-date=17 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817193426/https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/14/the-story-of-how-nawaz-sharif-pulled-back-from-nuclear-war/|archive-date=17 August 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The militants were not willing to accept orders from Sharif but the [[Northern Light Infantry|NLI]] soldiers withdrew.<ref name="auto" /> The militants were killed by the Indian army or forced to withdraw in skirmishes which continued even after the announcement of withdrawal by Pakistan.<ref name="auto" />