personal background

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on 25 December 1924 in Gwalior to a middle class Brahmin family of Shri Krishna Bihari Vajpayee and Smt. Krishna Devi. Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee, grandfather of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, migrated to Gwalior from their ancestral village Bateshwar in Uttar Pradesh. His father was a school master and a poet. Atalji completed his schooling from Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Gorkhi in Gwalior. He completed his graduation in Hindi, Sanskrit and English from the Victoria College in Gwalior, now known as the Laxmi Bai College. Thereafter, he studied in DAV College, Kanpur and completed his M.A. in Political Science with a first class degree.

He is fondly called Baapji by his close relatives and friends. He remained single for his entire life and later adopted a daughter, Namita. He loves Indian music and dance. Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a nature lover and Manali in Himachal Pradesh is one of his favoured retreats.He has retired from politics due to health issues and is currently known to be suffering from dementia and diabetes. Close aides say he fails to recognize people and mostly stays at home, except for his check ups that are conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.