Reading Atal Bihari Vajpayee through his Independence Day speeches

All of his six speeches started with an unfettered praise to the Indian Army, and a sublime touch to the Kashmir issue

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave six speeches from the Red Fort in the period between 1998 and 2003. His stint as the first full-term non-Congress head of India's executive was characterised by a multitude of extreme socio-political happenings, vestiges of which are visible even today. 

The nuclear test in Pokhran, which he candidly attributed as a succession of efforts initiated by Indira Gandhi, was followed by a victory in the Kargil war in the following year. The Parliament was attacked by terrorists in 2001, and a year later, Gujarat boiled in communal riots. 

Gujarat was rocked by a