Category Our Presidents

               Having been elected to the office of the President of India,  R. Venkataraman was sworn in on July 25th, 1987. He was the eighth President of the Republic of India.

               During his young age, Venkataraman was an activist of the Indian independence movement and participated in the Quit India Movement. He was an integral part of the parliamentary team that re-designed India’s Provincial Parliament during the period between 1950 and 1952. Venkataraman was a very eminent political personality throughout his lifetime.

              He had served as the member of the Constituent Assembly, and as the member of the Lok Sabha. He also served as the Union Finance Minister and Defence Minister. He was elected as the seventh Vice President of India in 1984.

              During his tenure, which concluded on July 25th in 1992, India saw a quick succession of four Prime Ministers – Narasimha Rao, Chandra Shekhar, Rajiv Gandhi, and V.P. Singh.

               Giani Zail Singh was elected to the highest office of the President of India on 15th July, 1982, unanimously and took the oath of office on 25th July, 1982. He succeeded Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as the President of India and held the president-ship for a full term.

               He was known for his lifelong loyalty towards the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. His presidency was, however, marked by several controversial events like Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi ordered the army and police force to combat Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Government troops stormed the complex, and killed the militants who had been demanding Khalistan, an independent country for Sikhs.

               Even though some events like Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riot cloued his tenure, some decisions taken by him won him popularity. He refused to sign the Postal Amendment Bill in 1986, which earned him applause from the civil society.

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               Zail Singh had always showed the exceptional qualities of an excellent statesman. During his tenure as the union home minister, Zail Singh made impressive contributions to maintain law and order in the country. He was a tireless crusader against communalism, economic disparities, and social injustice. His way of dealing with communal riots, especially the Assam agitation, was highly lauded by the public.

               His tremendous experience and wisdom as a politician, especially while serving as a minister in PEPSU and as the Chief Minister of Punjab, worked to his advantage. As the Union Home Minister he showed abundant and keen alertness to the numerous problems the nation then faced. His wise actions during the Assam crisis were commendable. He was a real social reformer who always empathized with the downtrodden.

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               Zail Singh was born in a mud house to a humble family in Faridkot district in Punjab, India. His father Kishan Singh was the village carpenter. His mother was Mata Ind Kaur. Singh lost his mother when he was a little boy.

               From a very young age itself, he had showed enthusiasm in reading the Sikh scriptures. Geeta, and Ramayana.

               He was accepted into the Shahid Sikh Missionary College at Amritsar in spite of the fact that he did not have a matriculation certificate. He was actively involved in politics from his teenage days and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal when he was just 15.

               He later joined the Indian National Congress, and took part in the freedom movement. In 1938 he established the Praja Mandal, a political organisation allied to the Congress Party, in Faridkot. This act provoked the maharaja. Zail Singh was imprisoned for five years. He was kept in solitary confinement and was also tortured for his political activities. During his  incarceration, he took the name Zail Singh.

 

            Giani Zail Singh, who served as the seventh President of the Republic of India, was the first Sikh to serve in this post. He held office from 1982 to 1987. His original name was Jarnail Singh.

            After India became independent, he was appointed as the Revenue Minister of the recently formed Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). In the 1972 Punjab Assembly elections, Giani Zail Singh became the Chief Minister of Punjab. His work for the people of Punjab was impressive.

            A freedom fighter himself, he arranged for a lifelong pension scheme for the freedom fighters of Punjab. Prior to his presidency, he had held several ministerial posts in the union cabinet, including that of Home Minister. He was elected as President in 1982. However, his presidency was marred by several controversial issues like Operation Blue Star and anti-Sikh riots, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He faced a very difficult time after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984, after which her son Rajiv Gandhi was appointed Prime Minister.

            He met with an accident in 1994, and was seriously injured. He died on 25th December 1994.

               Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was a veteran statesman and administrator. He held many eminent positions in public life both before, and after independence. Reddy was elected as the President on 21st July, 1977. He had sworn in as the sixth President of India on 25th July, 1977. He was the only candidate to have contested twice in the presidential race, once in 1969 against V.V. Giri, and then in 1977. When he was nominated for the presidency in 1969 by the Congress Party, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in a divisive move, supported V.V. Giri, who won.

               As the President, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy visited many states in India. He also visited many foreign lands during his term as the President, including the USSR, Bulgaria, Kenya, Zambia, the UK, Ireland, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Yugoslavia. Reddy worked with three governments, with Prime Ministers Morarji Desai, Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi.

              Reddy authored the book – ‘Without Fear or Favour: Reminiscences and Reflections of a President’. It was published in 1989. Reddy died in 1996 at the age of 83. His samadhi is at Kallahalli, near Bangalore.

            Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was born in a peasant family at Illuri village in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh on 19th May 1913. Sanjiva Reddy had his early education at the Theosophical High School at Adyar in Madras. He later joined the Arts College at Anantapur.

           Young Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was greatly influenced by the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi. He gave up his studies to take part in the freedom movement. In 1931 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy joined the Indian National Congress.

            He participated in a student Satyagraha, which brought him into the limelight. He was also jailed for participating in the Quit India Movement.

            In 1946, he was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly. He became a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1947. In 1951, he was elected as the president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, and subsequently, he became member of the Rajya Sabha.

            He also served as the president of the Indian National Congress from 1959 to 1962. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy became Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1953 and then the first Chief Minister of the state in 1956.

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              Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the sixth President of India. He held the office from 1977 to 1982. He was a veteran statesman and administrator. He was also the first to be elected unopposed.

               Reddy was 64 when he was elected as the youngest President of India. He proved his humbleness through two notable gestures; one was him renouncing the residency at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and the other was him allowing a 70 per cent cut in his salary, considering the poor economic condition of the nation in 1977.

              Besides being the President of India, he held many eminent positions in public life, both before, and after independence. Reddy served as Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, and Shipping and Tourism, from January 1966 to March 1967 in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Hindupur constituency in Andhra Pradesh. He was chosen as the speaker of the Lok Sabha on March 17th, 1967. This won him immense recognition. He served his term with such dedication and passion that he is remembered as the best ever Lok Sabha speaker.

 

 

               Though politics was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s forte, he always showed keen interest in sports and many extracurricular activities.

                Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an excellent tennis player and golfer. He was the president of the Assam Football Association. He was also elected as the president of the Assam Cricket Association for several terms. He also held the position of vice president of the Assam Sports Council.

                In April 1967, he was elected as the president of the All India Cricket Association. Other than these, he was also a member of the Delhi Golf Club and the Delhi Gymkhana Club since 1961.

               Though he was basically a sports enthusiast, he had excellent taste in music and fine arts too. He enjoyed the music of Ghaleb.

               A medical college, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College, has been named after him at Barpeta in Assam.

 

               During his stint in England, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed met Jawaharlal Nehru in 1925. Nehru’s progressive ideas influenced him very much. At Nehru’s request, Ali Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress. He actively participated in the Indian freedom struggle.

               He was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee from 1936. He was later selected as a Minister of Finance, Revenue and Labour in Assam. In 1942, he supported the Quit India Movement, for which he was arrested in August.

               After India gained independence, Fakhruddin was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1952. He eventually became the Advocate-General of the Government of Assam. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967 and again in 1971. He handled various portfolios, including food and agriculture, cooperation, education, industrial development and company laws.

              Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was chosen by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the President of India. He was sworn in on 24th August 1974.  He was a multifaceted personality. His interest in sports was extremely popular.

              Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s tenure in the office was cut short by his sudden death due to a heart attack which he suffered on his return from a tour of the South-East Asian countries only a day before. He died on 11th February, 1977.