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Pratibha Patil
Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who was born on December 19, 1934, was the first lady to serve as the President of India when she was at the helm during 2007 and 2012. She was the obvious choice for the prestigious chair and became the President when she assumed charge on July 25, 2007 after imminent politician turned scientist Abdul Kalam’s term was over. She beat Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who was in the running with her and held the post until July 25, 2012. Pranab Mukherjee took over from her as the President after her term was over.
She serves the Indian National Congress party and she contested the Presidential elections as a representative of the ruling party, the United Progressive Alliance as well as the Indian Left.
Early Life
Born to Narayan Rao Patil at Nadgaon which is part of Jalgaon in the state of Maharashtra in India, Patil’s formal education started at the RR Vidyala in Jalgaon. She then went on to complete her masters in Economics and Political Science from Mooljee Jetha College and a bachelor’s degree in Law from the Mumbai Law College. She started her career as a lawyer in the district court at Jalgaon while she was always closely associated with the issues that commonly affect the woman of India and helped them overcome them.
Out of her marriage to Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat in July 7, 1965, she had a son as well as a daughter.
Political Career
Before she became the President, Pratiba Patil’s career had no high points in spite of being much sustained over a period of time. Her first success came in 1962, when she was 27 and won the Jalgaon Legislative Assembly elections. She won four elections in a row from 1967 to 1985 from Muktainagar, known earlier as Edlabad. She then went on to win her first MP seat in the five year period of 1985 to 1990. After she won the Amravati MP seat in 1991, she took a small break from active politics.
During her service as the member of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha as well as her tenure at the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra, she had been responsible for many cabinets. She also served in the office of the state Congress committee’s president as well as the National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies Director and also held a place of the Governing Council that monitored the National Co-operative Union of India.
Though she was the 24th leader and the first lay to become Rajasthan’s governor, her political career was again “low-profile” if to be believed by a report by BBC.
As the President
The UPA found stiff resistance from the Left Parties when they proposed the names of Shivraj Patil who served as the Home Minister and Karan Singh for the post of the president and therefore, they were compelled to put up the name of Pratibha Patil for the post on June 14, 2007.
Contrary to the normal process where the candidate gets selected without any challenges by the other political parties, Pratibha Patil had to face stiff opposition for having a not so powerful role in Indian politics.
The stiff opposition came in the form of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who was the serving vice president apart from being a famous Bhartiya Janata Party senior leader. He contested the Presidential elections as an independent and had the immense support of the BJP led NDA – National Democratic Alliance.
An unprecedented turn of events came when the Shiv Sena that was aligned to NDA supported Pratibha Patil’s candidature as she was a daughter of the soil of Maharashtra.
She assumed the Presidential office on July 25, 2007 becoming the first Indian woman to do so, after she emerged successful in the election of July 19, 2007 by winning a two-third majority of the total votes.
Her presidential tenure was clouded with a lot of storms. One instance was when she reduced the death sentences of 35 prisoners to life sentences. These were prisoners who went behind bars for heinous crimes including murdering groups of people, abducting, raping and murdering young kids. Her office however supported the decision and said that this was taken after the thorough discussion with the officials of the Home Ministry.
She was also known as the President of India who used the official money to make the most international trips and she topped the list of Presidents who travelled the most.
The other noted black mark of her career was her 13 travels to the city of Pune which in all lasted for about 37 days and 24 nights while she held the office of the Indian President.
There were RTI activists who filed applications with a ‘right to know’ what was the actual money spent on her travel, the security that was enforced because of her visit to the city to see the impact of her travel, but her office never gave out these information and in addition, they also supported her saying that there are no rules regarding the maximum trips a President could travel to any city in the country.
Other Positions Held
1967–72 | Deputy Minister, Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism, Housing & Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1972–74 | Cabinet Minister, Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1974–75 | Cabinet Minister, Public Health & Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1975–76 | Cabinet Minister, Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1977–78 | Cabinet Minister, Education, Government of Maharashtra |
1979–1980 | Leader of the Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly |
1982–85 | Cabinet Minister, Urban Development and Housing, Government of Maharashtra |
1983–85 | Cabinet Minister, Civil Supplies and Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1986–1988 | Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha |
1986–88 | Chairman, Committee of Privileges, Rajya Sabha; Member, Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha |
1991–1996 | Chairman, House Committee, Lok Sabha |
8 November 2004 – 23 June 2007 | Governor of Rajasthan |
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