Former
President KR Narayanan passes away
New
Delhi: Former President KR Narayanan passed away today
at the Army Research and Referral Hospital. He is survived
by his Burma-born wife Usha and two daughters -- Chitra and
Amrita. A Defence Ministry release said that the former President
passed away at 5.45 p.m. He was suffering from `pneumonitis`
(acute pneumonia) and was on life support system for the past
ten days. According to Major General O.P.Mathew, the Commandant
of the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi,
Narayanan, 85, was admitted to the hospital on October 29
following complaints of pneumonia and "slight disorientation".
He was also suffering from renal failure, Major General Mathew
said, adding that he had been on life support since October
31. Cutting across party lines, leaders and people from all
walks of life, including President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, Vice
President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition
L.K.Advani expressed shock over the demise of the former President.
Others have started queuing up at the hospital and at his
residence in Central Delhi to pay homage to the departed leader.
Kocheril
Raman Narayanan was born at Uzhavoor in Kottayam, Kerala on
October 27, 1920. Known as KR Narayanan, he was the tenth
President of the Indian Republic and the first from the socially
underprivileged Dalit class and the only Keralite to become
President. A distinguished diplomat, educationist and parliamentarian
before assuming the responsibility of the Indian Presidency,
Narayanan was considered to have been a remarkably independent
and assertive President who set several precedents and enlarged
the scope of the country's highest constitutional office.
He often described himself as a `Citizen President' and a
`Working President' during his tenure, which lasted from 1997
to 2002. Narayanan was born at his ancestral home at Perumthanam,
Uzhavoor, the fourth of seven children of Kocheril Raman Vaidyar,
a physician, who practised the traditional Indian medical
systems of Siddha and Ayurveda. His family (of the Paravan
caste) was poor, but his father was respected for his medical
acumen. He was actually born on February 4 1921, but his uncle,
who accompanied him on his first day in school, did not know
his actual date of birth, and arbitrarily chose October 27,1920
for the records. Narayanan had his early schooling in Uzhavoor
at the Government Lower Primary School, Kurchithanam and Our
Lady of Lourdes Upper Primary School, Uzhavoor. He walked
to school for about 15 kilometres daily through paddy fields,
and was often unable to pay the fees. Lacking money to buy
books, his elder brother KR Neelakantan, who was suffering
from asthma and thus confined to his home, used to borrow
books from other students, copy them down, and give them to
Narayanan. He matriculated from St. Mary's High School, Kuravilangad.
He completed his intermediate at CMS, College, Kottayam, aided
by a merit scholarship. He later obtained his MA in English
literature from the University of Travancore, standing first
in the university (thus becoming the first Dalit to obtain
this degree with first class in Travancore). He then worked
briefly as a lecturer at his alma mater, University College,
Trivandrum (1943). However, the appointment, customary for
students who showed distinction, was only temporary in his
case. The then Dewan of Travancore, Sir CP Ramaswami Iyer,
refused to give him a permanent lecturership and offered him
a clerical job instead. When visiting Iyer, Narayanan had
worn a khadar jubba (which Iyer mistakenly thought was of
silk) and a rolled- gold watch (which he had got as a present
and which Iyer mistook for pure gold); such attire was unconscionable
for a Dalit, in Iyer's opinion. Narayanan asked for an audience
with the Maharaja of Travancore, but this was denied. He boycotted
the convocation, and did not accept his degree in protest
(he received it with good grace about 50 years later, at the
request of the University). With his family facing grave difficulties,
he left for Delhi and worked for some time as a journalist
with the Hindu and the Times of India (1944-45). During this
time he once interviewed Mahatma Gandhi on his own volition.
Narayanan then went to England in 1945 and studied political
science under Harold Laski at the London School of Economics.
He obtained the honours degree of B.Sc. (Economics) with a
specialisation in political science, helped by a scholarship
from JRD Tata. During his years in London, he (along with
fellow student KN Raj) was active in the India League under
VK Krishna Menon. He was also the London correspondent of
the Social Welfare Weekly published by KM Munshi. Narayanan
returned to India in 1948 with testimonials from Laski which
inspired Jawaharlal Nehru to specially recommend his acceptance
in the Indian Civil Service.
He joined the Indian Foreign Service on Nehru's request in
1949 and had a career of high distinction. He worked as a
diplomat in the embassies at Rangoon, Tokyo, Hanoi, Canberra
and London. He was the Indian ambassador to Thailand (1967-69),
Turkey (1973- 75), and People's Republic of China (1976-78)--the
first ambassador since the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict). He
taught at the Delhi School of Economics (1954), and was secretary
to the ministry of external affairs (1976). He retired in
1978. While serving in Rangoon, Burma, he met and married
Ma Trint Trint on June 8,1951, who later adopted the Indian
name Usha and became an Indian citizen. She is the only woman
of foreign origin to have become the First Lady. They have
two daughters, Chitra (who has served as Indian ambassador
to Sweden and Turkey) and Amrita. He then became the Vice-Chancellor
of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi (1978-80). Subsequently
he served as the Indian ambassador to the United States (1980-84).
Narayanan's tenures as Indian ambassador to the People's Republic
of China and to the United States proved to be of great importance
to India's foreign policy: relations with these countries
had been strained, and his diplomatic work led to better understanding
between India and these countries. Narayanan entered politics
at the request of Indira Gandhi and won three successive general
elections to the Lok Sabha (in 1984, 1989, and 1991) as a
representative from the constituency of Ottapalam in Palakkad,
Kerala, on the Congress ticket. He was a Minister in the Union
cabinet under Rajiv Gandhi. Narayanan was elected as the Vice-President
of India on August 21, 1992, under the Presidency of Shankar
Dayal Sharma. His name had been proposed initially by VP Singh
(former Prime Minister and the then leader of the Janata Dal
parliamentary party), and this had later garnered support
from the Congress under PV Narasimha Rao. On July 17,1997,
Narayanan was elected to the Presidency of India with 95 percent
of the votes in the electoral college, from the Presidential
poll of July 14; this is the only Presidential election to
have been held with a minority government holding power at
the centre. He was sworn in as the President of India on July
25, 1997 by Chief Justice JS Verma in the Central Hall of
Parliament.
Narayanan
had the singular honour of being the President on the eve
of the golden jubilee of Indian independence on 15 August
1997. The principal event of the golden jubilee was President
K. R. Narayanan's midnight address to the nation during the
special session of Parliament convened on the night of August
14; in this address, he identified the establishment of a
democratic system of government and politics to be the greatest
achievement of India since independence. The following morning,
Prime Minister IK Gujral, addressing the nation from the ramparts
of the Red Fort, said: `When Gandhiji dreamt of India's future,
he had said that the country will attain the real freedom
only on the day when a Dalit would become the President of
this country. This is our great fortune that today on the
eve of golden jubilee of independence, we have been able to
fulfil this dream of Gandhiji. In the person of Shri KR Narayanan
we have been able to fulfil the dream of Gandhiji. Our President
of whom the whole country is proud of, is from a very poor
and downtrodden family and today he has endowed the Rashtrapati
Bhavan with a new pride and respect." After from being the
first President to vote, Narayanan also introduced the important
practice of explaining to the nation (by means of Rashtrapati
Bhavan communiques) the thinking that led to the various decisions
he took while exercising his discretionary powers; this has
led to openness and transparency in the functioning of the
President. During his Presidency, Narayanan dissolved the
Lok Sabha twice after determining through consultations that
no one was in a position to secure the confidence of the house.
Narayanan in his speeches consistently sought to remind the
nation of its duties and obligations towards the Dalits and
tribals, the minorities, and the poor and downtrodden; he
called the nation's attention to various recalcitrant social
ills and evils, such as atrocities against women and children,
caste discrimination, abuse of the environment, corruption,
and flouting of human rights, and lamented the absence of
political debate and civic action to address them. Throughout
his Presidency, Narayanan adopted the policy of not visiting
places of worship or living godmen/godwomen; he is the only
President to have followed this practice. After his retirement
as President, Narayanan and his wife Usha lived in Delhi.