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Kocheril Raman Narayanan
K R Narayanan was the President of India and he took over as the first citizen of the country in 1997. He hails from the erstwhile princely state of Travancore. He was born on 27th October 1920 at a place called Uzhavoor, which is now in the Kottayam district of Kerala State.
He started his career as a journalist, later to be a student of London School of Economics, where he learnt Political Science. He was then a member of Indian Foreign Service, serving as the Indian ambassador in various countries, before he became a Minister in the Union Cabinet and to be elected as the Ninth Vice President and the tenth President in succession.
He passed away on 9th November 2005 at the age of 85.
Early Life
President Narayanan had a humble beginning, born in a community which was not in the upper clans of the society. However, he proved his mettle by obtaining 1st rank in MA English Literature examination of the then University of Travancore. All his career progress was attributable to his merit and not under any special privileges which were available to people belonging to the downtrodden category as per Constitution.
Being from a poor family, he went to Delhi for employment and took his career first as a Journalist working for ‘The Hindu’ and ‘The Times of India’. Later, he left for England to study Political Science in London School of Economics where he had Harold Laski as his mentor. The latter gave a letter of introduction to Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, which got him an opportunity to get into the career as a diplomat.
Political Career
K R Narayanan was initially a diplomat, after having worked in London teaching political science, also functioning as a journalist. He took up service as the Indian Ambassador for quite a few countries, when Pt Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister. Later, on his retirement in 1978, he became the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, however, he was called back to serve as an Ambassador to USA from 1980 through 1984.
Mr. K R Narayanan entered active politics in 1984 where he contested in Lok Sabha elections and successively winning for three terms. In all these period, he was a Minister of State in Union Cabinet under different portfolios such as Planning, External Affairs, Science and Technology etc. He was not given Ministerial position when he was elected to Lok Sabha in 1991 Elections, however, he was elected as the Vice President of India on 21st August 1992. His candidature was proposed by Leftist parties, although later Congress gave its support when P V Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister and his election came to be unanimous.
At one point of time, he was mistaken for being the one getting into ideologies of communism, when he openly clarified that he was neither a supporter nor antagonistic against communist party. The circumstances in the country were peculiar and turbulent when he was holding the office of Vice President, particularly an event like demolition of Babri Masjid occurred on December 6, 1992.
As President
During the period K R Narayanan held the Office of the President of India, he had to dissolve the Parliament twice, due to the reason there was no single party or alliance that could prove the majority of supporters in the Parliament. First, it was in November 1997 when I K Gujral could not establish majority, when Narayanan as the President got convinced that there was no single party which can prove majority in Lok Sabha and ordered dissolution upon the advice of the sitting Prime Minister Gujral. Likewise, he had to order for dissolution and fresh elections for Lok Sabha again in 1999 when one of the coalition partners withdrew support, when also no party or coalition could prove majority.
Hon. Narayanan enforced President’s rule in States also on two occasions during his tenure. The first one was Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh and the next one was Rabri Devi’s Government in Bihar. These were done under the advice of the then Prime Ministers Gujral and Vajpayee respectively.
President K R Narayanan acted as a true citizen when it came to the questing of voting in elections. Many were of opinion that the President should not exercise franchise as a no party man. But, Narayan was very sure that as an Individual he had the duty to exercise his franchise in public elections. He cast his vote in a public booth, also standing in the queue.
K R Narayan was also required to involve in the Kargil War decisions in collaboration with the Three Arms of Indian Armed forces, as at that time it was only a caretaker Government that was in operation pending Lok Sabha elections.
President Narayanan minced no meat with regard to the duties and obligations of the Nation for uplifting Dalits and tribal population in the country. He came out with his honest expressions during every Official address he rendered during occasions such as Republic Day.
K R Narayan was the President of the Country in its year of Golden Jubilee Independence. Particularly, he as a Dalit in the lowest ebb of the society holding the highest office of the country was of special mention by the Prime Minister in his Republic Day address.
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