Category Our Presidents

            Fakhruddin All Ahmed was the fifth President of India, in office from 1974 to1977. He had keen interest in many fields such as music, fine arts,  poetry and sports.

           He was the second President of India to die in office (on 11th February, 1977). Ahmed served as the President of India during the time of the Emergency.

          He met Jawaharlal Nehru in England in 1925. Inspired by Nehru, Fakhruddin All Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress, and actively participated in the freedom movement.

         He started Satyagraha on 14th December, 1940. In 1942, he was arrested for participating in the Quit India Movement, and was imprisoned for three and a half years.

He was elected to the Assam Assembly from 1957 to 1962, and again from 1962 to 1967. He remained the Minister of Finance, Revenue and Labour in the 1938 Gopinath Bordoloi Ministry.

          He joined the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru at the Centre in January 1966. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971. In the central cabinet, he was given important portfolios relating to food and agriculture, cooperation, education, industrial development and company laws.

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            V.V. Giri was India’s first High Commissioner to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He held the position from 1947 to 1951. In the first general election of independent India in 1951, he was elected from the Pathapatnam Lok Sabha Constituency, in the Madras State.

            On being elected to Parliament, Giri was appointed minister of labour in 1952. In 1954, he resigned from his cabinet position as the government opposed his famous ‘Giri Approach’.

            From June 1956-1960, he served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh, from 1960-1965, he was Governor of Kerala and from 1965-1967, he served as Governor of Karnataka.

            Giri was elected the third Vice President of India on 13th May 1967, a post he held for nearly two years till 3rd May, 1969. Giri was the first Vice President not to complete his full term in office, on account of being elevated to the office of the President, and was the third Vice President to be elected to the presidency.

            As an Acting President, he promulgated the ordinance that nationalized 14 banks and insurance companies. Later, Giri was sworn in as President of India on 24th August 1969, and held office till 24th August 1974.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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               Varahagiri Venkata Giri was born in Berhampur in the present Ganjam district of Odisha on 10th August 1894. His father, V.V. Jogayya Pantulu, was a prominent lawyer and political activist while his mother, Subhadramma, was active in the national movement as well. He completed his initial education at the Khallikote College in Berhampur.

               In 1913, he went to Ireland to study law at the University College, Dublin. The same year, Giri met Gandhiji who influenced him deeply, and finally made him realize that the freedom struggle was far more important than studying law. At college, Giri became involved with the Sinn Fein movement, which led to his expulsion from Ireland in 1916, leaving him unable to complete his law degree.

               Upon returning to India, he also became a member of the Congress party. In 1920, he participated in Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. In 1926, he was elected president of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). In 1942, he was imprisoned again for participating in the Quit India Movement.

               In May 1967, he was elected the third Vice President of India and remained in office for the next two years. After the death of the then President Zakir Husain, V.V. Giri became the Acting President and later, the President of India.

           After the death of Dr. Zakir Husain, V.V. Giri became the first ever Acting President of India in 1969. When President Zakir Husain died on 3rd May 1969, Giri was elevated to the  office of Acting President the same day.

         On 20th July 1969, he resigned from the post of Acting President to contest election as an independent candidate. He won the election, and held office for a full term of five years from 24th August 1969, to 24th August 1974. He became the only person to be elected President as an independent candidate.

          He was considered as one of the prominent figures behind the trade union movements in India. He not only organised the labour force of India and improved their condition, but also include them in the national struggle for independence. Along with his fellow Congress workers from different parts of the country, he succeeded in forming the All India Trade Union Congress. He served as its president in 1926 and 1942.

          V.V. Giri was honored by the Government of India with the Bharat Ratna in 1975.

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               Dr. Zakir Husain was the third President of India and the first Muslim to occupy the post. However, they could only occupy the position for a period of two years from 13th May 1967 until his death on 3rd May, 1969.

               Dr. Zakir Husain was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and thus, became a member of the Indian Parliament in 1956.

               However, he held this position only for a year, after which he became the Governor of Bihar, a post he occupied for five years from 1957 – 1962. Dr. Husain was honoured with the Bharat Ratna award in 1963.

               Dr. Zakir Husain died on 3rd May 1969, the first Indian President to die in office. He was buried on the campus of the Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi. Dr. Zakir Husain was one of the biggest exponents of education in India, and it was under his leadership that the National Muslim University was founded.

               During Dr. Zakir Husain’s last days, the issue of nationalization of banks was being hotly debated. The bill, at last, received presidential consent from Mohammad Hidayatullah, who served as the Acting President on 9th August 1969.

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            After returning to India from Germany, in 1927, he took over as the head of the Jamia Milia Islamia University, which was by then, facing the threat of closure due to financial constraints. He aimed to revive the university.

            The university was involved in India’s freedom movement. It was under his leadership that the education institution not only managed to stay afloat, but contributed to the Indian struggle for freedom from the British Rule. During this period, Husain emerged as one of the most prominent educational thinkers and practitioners of modern India. In 1948, he became the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. In 1956, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. However, just after a year, he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar, a position he served in for five years from 1957 to 1962.

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