Krishan Kant (28 February 1927 – 27 July 2002) was an Indian politician who served as the tenth vice president of India from 1997 until his death 2002. Formerly, he was the governor of Andhra Pradesh from 1990 to 1997. He was a member of Lok Sabha from Chandigarh (1977-1980), and Member of Rajya Sabha from Haryana (1966-1972, 1972–1977).

Early life

Kant was born on 28 February 1927 in Kot Mohammad Khan a village of

Tarn Taran district Tarn Taran district is one of the districts in the Majha region of Punjab, India. The main cities are Tarn Taran Sahib, Bhikhiwind, Khadur Sahib and Patti. The City of Tarn Taran is a holy place for Sikhs. Tarn Taran district was formed in 2 ...

in the Punjab Province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. His parents were independence activists

Lala Achint Ram Lala Achint Ram (19 August 1898 – 1961) was an Indian freedom fighter, Gandhian and a member of the Indian National Congress party. He was one of the first three members of Servants of the People Society, established by Lala Lajpat Rai i ...

and

Satyavati Devi Satyavati Devi (26 January 1906 — 21 October 1945) was a participant in Indian independence movement. She was considered to be the Joan of Arc of India. Family She was the granddaughter of Swami Shraddhanand, and the daughter of advocate Dha ...

. Kant completed his MSc (Technology) from the Banaras Hindu University. He worked as a scientist with the

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

, New Delhi.

Political career

The son of noted Congress politician and later parliamentarian,

, Kant's first brush with politics came when he plunged into the

Quit India movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

, while he was still a student in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. He took part in the

Indian Independence Movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

as a youth and continued to be involved in politics, eventually being elected to

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

. He was part of the "Young Turk" brigade of

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

party during the time of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. He held important official positions in the parliamentary and organisational wings of the

, the

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

and the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 ...

. For many years, he was a member of the Executive Council of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Krishan Kant was the founding general secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights, of which

Jayprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...

was the President in 1976. He was expelled from the

in 1975 for his opposition to the Emergency. He was later a member of

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

till 1980. He was the chairman of Committee on Railway Reservations and Bookings from 1972 to 1977. He with

Madhu Limaye Madhu Limaye (1 May 1922 – 8 January 1995), full name: Madhukar Ramchandra Limaye, was an Indian socialist essayist and activist, particularly active in the 1970s. A follower of Ram Manohar Lohia and a fellow-traveller of George Fernandes, he w ...

was also responsible for the collapse of the Morarji Desai government installed by that coalition, by insisting that no member of the

could be the member of

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

(RSS). This attack on ''dual membership'' was directed specifically at members of the

who had been members of the

Jan Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...

, and continued to be members of the right-wing RSS, the Jan Sangh's ideological parent. The issue led to fall of Morarji Desai government in 1979, and the destruction of the Janata coalition. A strong protagonist of India going nuclear, Krishan Kant was a member of the executive council of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis. Kant was appointed

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

by the

V.P. Singh Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008), shortened to V. P. Singh, was an Indian politician who was the 7th Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda. He is India's only prime minister to ...

government in 1989 and served in that position for seven years, becoming one of India's longest-serving governors. He stayed at that post till he was elevated as Vice-President of India. He was elected vice-president by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

as the joint candidate of the

and

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political a ...

. While serving as vice-president, there was a terrorist attack on the Parliament building in 2001; terrorists used fake labels to gain access to the premises and they crashed into his car. Krishan Kant 2005 stamp of India

He died in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

aged 75 after suffering from a massive

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on 27 July 2002, a few weeks before he was to leave the office to lead a retired life. (He is the only Indian

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

to die in office.) He was cremated with full state honours at Nigam Bodh Ghat in New Delhi on the banks of

Yamuna The Yamuna (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a ...

river on 28 July, in the presence of various VIPs and was survived by his wife, mother, three children (two sons and a daughter along with their respective spouses), several grandchildren and a few great-grandchildren as well as two sisters and numerous other surviving family members. His mother

, another freedom fighter had also outlived him, finally dying in 2010. A few days after his death, a former Chief Minister of Rajasthan,

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (23 October 1923 – 15 May 2010) was the 11th vice president of India. He served in that position from August 2002, when he was elected to a five-year term by the electoral college following the death of Krishan Kant ...

defeated Sushil Kumar Shinde in assuming the vice-presidency through a special election.

References

External links

Profile
(archived) on

Embassy of India in Washington The Embassy of India in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of India to the United States. It is headed by the Indian Ambassador to the United States. The current Ambassador is Taranjit Singh Sandhu. India also has consulat ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Kant, Krishan 1927 births 2002 deaths Banaras Hindu University alumni Punjabi people Governors of Andhra Pradesh Governors of Tamil Nadu Vice presidents of India Lok Sabha members from Chandigarh Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India Janata Party politicians Janata Dal politicians Rajya Sabha members from Haryana India MPs 1977–1979