Category Personalities

               Kocheril Raman Narayanan was born on 4th February, 1921 in the village of Uzhavoor in the Kottayam district in Kerala. K.R. Narayanan was born and brought up in a very poor family. He had to walk for miles to reach his school, only to stand outside the class to attend the lectures, as his fees were always overdue.

               After enduring such hardships, Narayanan obtained his BA (Honours) and MA in English literature from the University of Travancore (present-day University of Kerala), standing first in the University.

            After finishing college, K.R. Narayanan moved to Delhi, and took up job as a journalist. For one year he worked at ‘The Hindu’ and later joined ‘The Times of India’, as a reporter.

            At the same time, he aspired to continue his higher studies in London. As he had financial constraints he approached J.R.D. Tata, who gave him a scholarship. This helped him to go to England in 1945, where he studied Economics and Political Science at the London School of Economics. In London, he got acquainted with V.K. Krishna Menon and became a part of the Indian League.

            Later, he graduated from the London School of Economics with First Class Honours specializing in political science.

               K.R. Narayanan was the first Indian President from the Dalit community. He was also the first person from Kerala to be elected as the President of our nation. Narayanan was the tenth President of India.

               Narayanan did not hesitate to speak his mind, and he is regarded as an independent and assertive President, who set several precedents, and enlarged the scope of the highest constitutional office.

               After finishing his studies, Narayanan was appointed in the Indian Foreign Service on the advice of Nehru. He then went on to be the Indian Ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, and China.

               In 1980, he was appointed as India’s Ambassador to the United States. After he returned, in the next general elections, he contested from the Ottappalam constituency as a Congress candidate. He got elected by a fair margin, becoming the Minister of State in Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet. He later became the Minister for Science and Technology as well.

               Narayanan was elected as Lok Sabha member two more times. He became the Vice President of the country in 1992. In 1997, he succeeded Shankar Dayal Sharma as the 10th President of India, occupying the office till 2002.

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               Sharma was internationally recognised even before he attained his political fame. He taught law at Lucknow University for nine years, and later, at Cambridge University. Sharma was a Bar-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn, and even became a Fellow of the Harvard Law School.

               He excelled as a sportsman in athletics, rowing, and swimming. He even tried his hand at journalism by writing on diverse topics such as history, art and culture, philosophy, poetry, literature, and comparative religions. His articles have been published in many reputed international journals.

               The International Bar Association has presented to Sharma the Living Legends of Law Award of Recognition for his outstanding contribution to the legal profession.

               He led several official delegations to international conferences including a parliamentary delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference at Oslo in 1980; a special delegation of veteran freedom fighters to Moscow in August, 1987, for the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of India’s independence during the Festival of India in the USSR, also led a special delegation of veteran freedom fighters to Jalalabad, Afghanistan to pay homage to Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1988.

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             After playing a significant role in the independence movement, Shankar Dayal Sharma played a prominent role in the formation of former Bhopal state, too.

            After India’s independence, the Nawab of Bhopal expressed his wish to retain the Bhopal princely state as a separate unit. Sharma led public agitations against the Nawab in December 1948. He was arrested on charges of leading a public agitation against the Nawab. He also served a jail term for violating restrictions on public meetings. He was later released under public pressure, and the Nawab was forced to sign the agreement for merge with the Indian union on 30th April, 1949.

           In the year 1952, he became the Chief Minister of the former state of Bhopal. He was the youngest Chief Minister at the time. He served in that position until the state re-organisation of 1956, when Bhopal state merged with several other states to form the state of Madhya Pradesh.

               Shankar Dayal Sharma was born on 19th August 1918 in Bhopal. A meritorious law student from Fitzwilliam College, Sharma was awarded the Chakravarti Gold Medal for Social Service by Lucknow University.

               He later worked at the Cambridge University and Lucknow University. During his tenure in these universities, he was awarded a fellowship at the Harvard Law School and was elected Honorary Bencher and Master of Lincoln’s Inn and Honorary Fellow, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

               While at Cambridge, Sharma was Treasurer of the Tagore Society and the Cambridge Majlis. During his tenure as Vice President of India he was Chancellor of many universities in India.

               Sharma participated in the struggle for Indian independence and became a member of the Indian National Congress. In the year 1952, he became the Chief Minister of the former state of Bhopal.

               Sharma served as a Communication Minister from 1974-77 in the cabinet of Indira Gandhi. Later, Sharma served as the Vice President of India until he was elected as the President of India in 1992.

            Shankar Dayal Sharma was the ninth President of the Indian Republic, and served his tenure from 1992 to 1997. Before he was elected to the post of President, he served as the eighth Vice President of India under R. Venkataraman. Sharma was the only Indian President other than R. Venkataraman in the 20th century, to work with four Prime Ministers, and appoint three of them.

            Sharma participated in the struggle for Indian independence, and became a member of the Indian National Congress. He became the Chief Minister of Bhopal in 1952.

            He was the president of the Indian National Congress in 1972. Later, Sharma served as a Communication Minister from 1974 to 1977 in the cabinet of Indira Gandhi. He was elected from Bhopal to the Lok Sabha in 1980.

            Shankar Dayal Sharma was appointed Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Maharashtra. He was elected as the Vice President of India in the year 1987. Later, he was elected as the President of India after receiving 66 per cent of the votes.