Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma

Shankar Dayal Sharma (; 19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999) was an Indian lawyer and politician from the state of Madhya Pradesh who served as the ninth President of India, from 1992 to 1997.

Born in Bhopal, Sharma studied at Agra, Allahabad and Lucknow and received a doctorate in constitutional law from the University of Cambridge and was a bar-at-law from Lincoln's Inn and a Brandeis Fellow at Harvard University. In 1948-49, Sharma was one of the leaders of the movement for the merger of Bhopal State with India, a cause for which he served eight months' imprisonment.

A member of the Indian National Congress party, Sharma was Chief Minister (1952–1956) of Bhopal State and served as a Cabinet Minister (1956–1971) in the government of Madhya Pradesh holding several portfolios. Sharma was president of the Bhopal State Congress Committee (1950-1952), Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (1966-1968) and of the All India Congress Committee (1972-1974). He served as Union Minister for Communications from 1974 to 1977 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Twice elected to the Lok Sabha, Sharma served as Governor of Andhra Pradesh (1984-1985), Punjab (1985-1986) and Maharashtra (1986-1987) before being elected unopposed as the eighth Vice President of India in 1987.

Sharma was elected President of India in 1992 and served till 1997 during which period he dealt with four Prime Ministers, three of whom he appointed in the last year of his presidency. He was assertive with the P. V. Narasimha Rao ministry, forcing his government to sack a governor, instigating a strong response to the demolition of the Babri Masjid and refusing to sign ordinances presented to him on the eve of elections. His appointment of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister on the grounds of him being the leader of the largest party in Parliament attracted widespread criticism especially as Vajpayee was forced to resign in only thirteen days without facing a vote of confidence. Sharma's appointment of H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral as Prime Minsters followed the assurance of support to their candidature by the Congress party but neither government lasted more than a year. Sharma chose not to seek a second term in office and was succeeded to the presidency by K. R. Narayanan.

Sharma died in 1999 and was accorded a state funeral. His samadhi lies at Karma Bhumi in Delhi.

Early life and education

Shankar Dayal Sharma was born on 19 August 1918 in Bhopal, then the capital of the princely state of Bhopal, in a Hindu Brahmin family. Sharma completed his schooling in Bhopal and then studied at St. John's College, Agra and at the Allahabad and Lucknow universities obtaining a master’s degree in English literature, Hindi and Sanskrit and an L.L.M. He topped both the courses, was awarded the Chakravarty Gold Medal for social service and was a thrice swimming champion at Lucknow University and Cross country running champion at Allahabad. He obtained a doctorate in constitutional law from Cambridge University for his thesis on ''Interpretation of Legislative Powers under Federal Constitutions'' and received a Diploma in Public Administration from the University of London. During his years in Cambridge he was associated with the Tagore Society and the Cambridge Majlis. Sharma began practicing law at Lucknow from 1940 where he taught law at the University and soon joined the Indian National Congress. In 1946, he was admitted to the Lincoln’s Inn and taught at Cambridge University during 1946-47. The following year, he was Brandeis Fellow at Harvard University.

Political career in Madhya Pradesh

During 1948-49, Sharma underwent eight months’ imprisonment for his leadership of the popular movement for merging the princely state of Bhopal with India. Although the Nawab of Bhopal had acceded his state to the Dominion of India, he had held out against signing the Instrument of Merger. The popular movement had the support of the Praja Mandal and an interim government with Chatur Narain Malviya as its head was constituted by the Nawab in 1948. However, as the movement gained support, the Nawab dismissed this government. Public pressure and the intervention of V. P. Menon led the Nawab to merge his state with the Indian Union in 1949 with the princely state reconstituted as Bhopal State.

Sharma was president of the Bhopal State Congress during 1950 to 1952. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Bhopal from Berasia in the elections of 1952 and became Chief Minister of Bhopal State in 1952. In 1956, following the reorganization of states, Bhopal State was merged with the new state of Madhya Pradesh. Sharma played an important role in retaining Bhopal as the capital of this new state. In the elections of 1957, 1962 and 1967 Sharma was elected to the Assembly from Udaipura as a candidate of the Congress party. During this time he was a cabinet minister in the Madhya Pradesh government and variously held portfolios of education, law, public works, industry and commerce and Revenue. As minister for education, he emphasized secular pedagogy in schools and textbooks were revised to avoid religious bias.

During 1967-68, he was president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee and served as general secretary of the party from 1968 to 1972. During the split in 1969, Sharma sided with Indira Gandhi and was removed from party posts by the president S. Nijalingappa but reappointed by Gandhi in her faction of the party.

Parliamentary career

Sharma was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhopal in the general elections of 1971. The following year he was made the president of the Indian National Congress by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Prior to his appointment as president, Sharma had been a member of the Congress Working Committee since 1967 and general secretary of the Congress party from 1968. As president, Sharma launched a public campaign against the CIA accusing it of being actively involved in fomenting violence in India. In October 1974, Sharma was appointed Minister of Communications in the Indira Gandhi ministry and was succeeded as president of the Congress by D. K. Barooah. He remained in that post until his defeat in the general election of 1977 by Arif Baig. Sharma was reelected from Bhopal in the general election of 1980.

Gubernatorial tenures (1984-1987)

Governor of Andhra Pradesh (1984-1985)

On 15 August 1984, N. T. Rama Rao, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh who had led the Telugu Desam Party to victory in the state assembly election of 1983, was dismissed from that post by the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Thakur Ram Lal. He appointed N. Bhaskara Rao, who had been finance minister under N. T. Rama Rao, as the new chief minister and gave him a month’s time to prove his majority in the assembly despite the ousted chief minister’s claim of being able to prove his own majority in two days’ time and evidence that he had the support of the majority of legislators in the assembly. Following widespread protests, Ram Lal resigned on 24 August 1984 and was replaced by Sharma.

Sharma convened a session of the assembly on 11 September 1984 but as Bhaskara Rao failed to prove his majority within the period of one month stipulated by Thakur Ram Lal, Sharma suggested that he resign with effect from 16 September. Bhaskar Rao refused to do so seeking the reconvening of the assembly a few days later. Sharma then dismissed him and reappointed N. T. Rama Rao as Chief Minister. Rama Rao won the vote of confidence when the assembly reconvened on 20 September 1984. Soon after, the Rama Rao government called for fresh elections and Sharma dissolved the assembly in November 1984.

In the assembly election of 1985, Rama Rao's party was returned to power with a two-thirds majority. A few months later, Sharma refused to repromulgate three ordinances sent to him by the state government stating that ordinances are required to be ratified by the legislature and that their repromulgation would be a constitutional impropriety. His refusal to repromulgate these ordinances, pertaining to the abolition of offices of part-time village officers, formation of districts and payment of salaries and removal of disqualifications of government employees, a fourth time soured his relation with the state government.

On 31 July 1985, Sharma's daughter Gitanjali and his son-in-law, the Congress politician Lalit Maken, were killed by Sikh militants in retaliation for Maken's alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Sharma was thereafter transferred to Punjab as governor and was succeeded in Andhra Pradesh by Kumudben Joshi.

Governor of Punjab (1985-1986)

Sharma succeeded Hokishe Sema as governor of Punjab in November 1985. His appointment came after the assembly elections in that state and in the backdrop of the Rajiv–Longowal Accord which sought to resolve the insurgency in Punjab. Sharma's tenure was characterized by continued violence and he was replaced in April 1986 by Siddhartha Shankar Ray.

Governor of Maharashtra (1986-1987)

Sharma was sworn in as Governor of Maharashtra in April 1986 and served until September 1987 when he was elected Vice-President of India.

Vice President of India (1987-1992)

Sharma was nominated by the Congress party for the vice-presidential election of 1987. Although 27 candidates had filed nominations, only the nomination filed by Sharma was found valid by the returning officer. After the last date of withdrawal of candidates was over, Sharma was declared elected unanimously on 21 August 1987. Sharma was sworn in as Vice-President of India on 3 September 1987. He was only the third person to be elected unopposed to the vice-presidency.

Sharma, who was also the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, offered to quit in February 1988 after his ruling admitting a discussion in the house of the purported extravagance of the then Governor of Andhra Pradesh was vociferously objected to by members of the government. Several ministers of the council of ministers led the protests against the Chairman's ruling even as Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was present in the house, chose not to intervene or restrain the members of his party. Sharma's response chastened the protesting members but their request to have the proceedings expunged from parliament records was turned down by Sharma.

In 1991, following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Sharma was first offered the presidentship of the Congress party and the post of Prime Minister by Sonia Gandhi. He however refused citing ill health and advanced age. Thereafter, P. V. Narasimha Rao was chosen to lead the Congress party.

President of India (1992-1997)

In June 1992 Sharma was chosen by the Congress party as its candidate for the presidential election of 1992 to succeed R. Venkataraman. His nomination was also supported by the communist parties. The election was held on 13 July 1992 and votes counted three days later. Sharma won 675,804 votes against the 346,485 votes polled by his main opponent, George Gilbert Swell who was the nominee of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Two other candidates - Ram Jethmalani and Kaka Joginder Singh

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