Ramaswamy Venkataraman | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Official portrait | |
| President of India | |
| In office 25 July 1987 – 25 July 1992 | |
| Prime Minister | Rajiv Gandhi V. P. Singh Chandra Shekhar P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Vice President | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| Preceded by | Zail Singh |
| Succeeded by | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| Vice President of India | |
| In office 31 August 1984 – 24 July 1987 | |
| President | Zail Singh |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Hidayatullah |
| Succeeded by | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
| Union Minister of Home Affairs | |
| In office 22 June 1982 – 2 September 1982 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Zail Singh |
| Succeeded by | Prakash Chandra Sethi |
| Union Minister of Defence | |
| In office 15 January 1982 – 2 August 1984 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Indira Gandhi |
| Succeeded by | Shankarrao Chavan |
| Union Minister of Finance | |
| In office 14 January 1980 – 15 January 1982 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna |
| Succeeded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1910-12-04)4 December 1910 |
| Died | 27 January 2009(2009-01-27) (aged 98) |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Loyola College,University of Madras |
| Profession | |
| Signature |  |
Ramaswamy Venkataraman (pronunciationⓘ, 4 December 1910 – 27 January 2009),[1][2] also known as R. Venkataraman, was an Indian lawyer, independence activist and politician who served as a union minister and as thevice president of india andpresident of India.[3]Venkataraman was born inRajamadam village inTanjore district, Madras Presidency. He studied law and practised in theMadras High Court and theSupreme Court of India. In his youth, he was an activist for theIndian independence movement, and he participated in theQuit India Movement. He was appointed as the member of the Constituent Assembly and the provisional cabinet. He was elected to theLok Sabha four times and served asUnion Finance Minister andDefence Minister. In 1984, he was elected as thevice president of India and in 1987, he became the president of India and served from 1987 to 1992. He also served as a state minister underK. Kamaraj andM. Bhaktavatsalam.[4]
Venkataraman was born in aTamil Brahmin family[5][6] in Rajamadam village nearPattukottai,Tanjore district inMadras Presidency,British India. He had his school education in Govt Boys Higher Secondary School, Pattukottai and undergraduation inNational College, Tiruchirappalli.[7]
Educated locally and in the city ofMadras (nowChennai), Venkataraman obtained his master's degree in economics fromLoyola College,Madras. He later qualified in Law from the Law College, Madras. Venkataraman was enrolled in theMadras High Court in 1935 and in the Supreme Court in 1951.[8]
While practising law, Venkataraman was drawn into the movement for India's freedom from Britain's colonial subjugation. His active participation in the Indian National Congress's celebrated resistance to the British Government, theQuit India Movement of 1942, resulted in his detention for two years under the Defence of India Rules. Venkataraman's interest in the law continued during this period. In 1946, when the transfer of power from British to Indian hands was imminent, the Government of India included him in the panel of lawyers sent to Malaya and Singapore to defend Indian nationals charged with offences of collaboration during the Japanese occupation of those two places. In the years 1947 to 1950, Venkataraman served as Secretary of the Madras Provincial Bar Federation.[9]
Law and trade activity led to Venkataraman's increasing association with politics. He was a member ofconstituent assembly that draftedIndia's constitution. In 1950, he was elected to free India's Provisional Parliament (1950–1952) and to the First Parliament (1952–1957). During his term of legislative activity, Venkataraman attended the 1952 Session of the Metal Trades Committee of International Labour Organisation as a workers' delegate. He was a member of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in New Zealand. Venkataraman was also Secretary to the Congress Parliamentary Party in 1953–1954.[10][4]
Venkatraman was reelected to Parliament fromThanjavur in thegeneral election of 1957 with an improved majority of 37,000 votes.[11] He however resigned the seat and joined theMadras government at the invitation of itsChief Minister,K. Kamaraj.[12] Venkataraman was sworn in as Minister for Industries on 26 April 1957 and was allotted several ministries including those of Labour and Co-operation, Commercial Taxes and Nationalised Transport, Textiles, Mines and Minerals and Companies and was elected to theMadras Legislative Council in the biennial elections conducted in March 1958.[13]
In theassembly election of 1962, the Congress Party under K Kamaraj was returned to power. Venkataraman was retained as minister in charge of the same ministries during theKamaraj Ministry which lasted 2 October 1963 and under Chief MinisterM. Bhaktavatsalam who succeeded Kamaraj. Venkataraman himself was sworn-in as Minister in the Bhaktavatsalam Ministry only on 23 October 1963, as he was inNew York to attend the session of theUnited Nations Administrative Tribunal.[14] Venkataraman was reelected to the Council in the biennial elections of March 1964 and remained the leader of the house in the Council until after theassembly elections of 1967.[15]
As Minister of Industries, Venkataraman proved to be an able administrator who ushered in a period ofindustrial development in Madras.[16] He championed the idea ofindustrial estates, the first of which was established atGuindy, and succeeded in getting investments in majorpublic sector undertakings such as theIntegral Coach Factory,Neyveli Lignite Corporation and theHeavy Vehicles Factory.[17][18][19] Venkataraman persuaded theTVS Group to set up a factory atPadi and several other private companies includingAshok Leyland,Hindustan Motors andEnfield established their automobile factories inMadras during this time.[20]Tamil Nadu’s industrialization has been widely credited to steps initiated during Venkataraman’s decade as the state’s industries minister and he has been described as the “father of industrialization” inTamil Nadu.[21][22]
In 1967, Venkataraman contested theparliamentary election from Thanjavur but lost to the D.S. Gopalar of theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam.[23][24] In theassembly election of 1967, the Congress was routed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.C. N. Annadurai, the DMK’s leader in the Council became Chief Minister and Venkataraman theleader of the opposition in the Council until his resignation from the Council in August 1967.[25]
Venkataraman was appointed a member of thePlanning Commission in July, 1967 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and held charge ofindustry,labour,power,transport,communications andrailways.[26][27] In 1970, the Commission on Major Ports headed by Venkataraman submitted its report to the Government. This was the first study to be made of the integrated function and development ofmajor ports in India.[28] He resigned from the Planning Commission in 1971.[29]
In 1977, Venkataraman was elected to the Lok Sabha from Madras (South) Constituency and served as an Opposition Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.[30]
Venkataraman was also, variously, a member of the Political Affairs Committee and the Economic Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet; Governor,International Monetary Fund, theInternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and theAsian Development Bank. Venkataraman was a Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961. He was Leader of the Indian Delegation to the 42nd Session of the International Labour Conference at Geneva (1958) and represented India in the Inter Parliamentary Conference in Vienna (1978). He was a member of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal from 1955 to 1979 and was its President from 1968 to 1979.[31][32]
Venkataraman was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from theMadras South constituency in the1980 general election with an improved majority of over 120,000 votes.[33] He was sworn in asCabinet Ministerin charge of Finance in theIndira Gandhi ministry on 14 January 1980.[34][35] During January to April, 1980 he was alsoMinister of Industry.[36][37] As finance minister, Venkataraman presented the interim and final budgets for 1980 and the budget in 1981.[38] Venkataraman’s budget in 1981 was seen as favouring themiddle class and industry, focusing on improving growth andsavings in the economy while raisingcustoms duty on allimported goods to raise revenue.[39] In the same year, he introduced a bill for the establishment of theNational Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development which was passed by Parliament.[40]
When allegations of corruption were raised against the Congress Party and theChief Minister of Maharashtra,A. R. Antulay regarding the collection of funds by a trust named after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, she tasked Venkataraman with defending the government in debates on the matter in Parliament. Althoughmembers of the opposition attempted to introduceprivilege motions against Venkatraman on the grounds that he had misled parliament, these were rejected by the presiding officers in both houses of parliament.[41][42] In his interventions, Venkataraman sought to dissociate the Prime Minister from the activities of Antulay and he rejected the opposition’s demand for a probe arguing that no improprieties had been committed by the trust to warrant an inquiry.[43][44]
It was during Venkataraman’s tenure as finance minister that India negotiated with theInternational Monetary Fund for a loan for 5 billionspecial drawing rights amounting to US$5.68 billion.[45][46] Sanctioned in November 1981, this was the largest loan ever made by the IMF.[47][46] While the loan required the Indian government to limit the expansion of credit and curtail commercial borrowings and to consult the IMF onfiscal andmonetary policies of the government, it did not require India todevalue the rupee as wasdone in the past.[45]
Venkataraman was shifted from theMinistry of Finance on 15 January 1982 to theMinistry of Defence, a portfolio that had until then been held by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.[48][49]
During Venkataraman’s tenure in the ministry, the Government of India signed deals to purchaseSea King helicopters andSea Eagle missiles from theUnited Kingdom andMirage fighter aircraft andType 209 submarines from other western nations thus seeking to undo the near monopoly that theSoviet Union had on weapons systems in theIndian armed forces.[50][51][52] In response, the Soviets, keen to not lose out in theirlargest arms market in thedeveloping world, agreed to India’s request for acquiring theMiG-29 fighter jet and to the licensed production in India of theMiG-27 and MiG-29 aircraft during Venkataraman's visit toMoscow in June 1983. The offer was finalized during the visit to India of theSoviet Defence Minister,Dmitry Ustinov in March 1984.[53][54]
His most consequential contribution as Defence Minister, however, was the launch of theIntegrated Guided Missile Development Programme in 1983 which led to the indigenous development of thePrithvi,Akash,Agni,Thrishul andNag missile systems by India'sDefence Research and Development Organisation.[55][56] Venkataraman’s term also witnessed India attempt to conduct anuclear test in 1983 and theseizing of the Siachen Glacier by theIndian Army in 1984.[55][57]
Venkataraman demitted office on 2 August 1984 and was succeeded byS. B. Chavan as Minister of Defence.[58]
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi chose Venkataraman to be theCongress Party’s candidate for thevice presidential election to elect a successor toM. Hidayatullah.Bapu Chandrasen Kamble of theRepublican Party of India was his sole opponent.[59] In the election held on 22 August 1984, Venkataraman won 508 of 715 valid votes cast to win outright. Venkataraman was sworn in as Vice-President on 31 August 1984.[60]
FollowingIndira Gandhi’s assassination, Vice President Venkataraman went along with President Zail Singh’s decision to appointRajiv Gandhi as prime minister. It was Venkataraman who announced Indira Gandhi’s death onDoordarshan and theswearing-in of a new government under Rajiv Gandhi.[61]
As relations between Rajiv Gandhi and President Zail Singh worsened, the Prime Minister stopped calling on the President. The government also began to depute Venkataraman in place of Singh ondiplomatic visits.[62] Gandhi however toldParliament that he had been meeting the president regularly and had kept him informed on all matters of policy. A letter contradicting the Prime Minister’s statement, allegedly written by President Singh, was leaked to the media which led to a political furore. Venkataraman saved Rajiv Gandhi’s government much embarrassment when he declined to allow a discussion in the house on this letter and on the president's right to be kept informed under Article 78 of theConstitution. Despite angry protests andwalkouts byopposition parties, Venkataraman refused to budge stating thatconfidentiality of communications between the president and the prime minister was required to be maintained in the interest of the nation.[63][64][65]
As President Singh’s term neared its end it was widely speculated that he intended to dismiss Gandhi as prime minister and appoint acaretaker government. Singh asked Venkataraman whether he would be interested in becoming the prime minister in such an eventuality but Venkataraman declined the offer.[66][67][68]
In the run up to the presidential election of 1987, the Congress party’s initial choices for president wereB. Shankaranand,Pupul Jayakar andP.V. Narasimha Rao. However, Venkataraman let it be known that he would resign if he were not nominated as the party’s candidate for the presidency. On 14 June 1987 the Congress Parliamentary Board endorsed Venkataraman as the party’s nominee for the presidential election.[69][68] TheLeft parties fielded JusticeV. R. Krishna Iyer as their candidate and despite speculation that he might contest as an independent candidate, President Singh chose to retire.[70]
In theelection held in July 1987 Venkataraman emerged victorious winning 740,148 votes against 281,550 votes polled by Krishna Iyer. Mithilesh Kumar came a distant third winning 2,223 votes.[72] Venkatraman won the support of 606 of 755Members of Parliament and majorities in 14 of 25state legislative assemblies while Iyer won a majority in 8 legislative assemblies where non-Congress parties held a majority and the support of 139 members of Parliament. Kumar, leader of the Goodmans Party, ended up winning seven votes.[73][74] Venkataraman was declared elected on 16 July 1987 and was sworn in on 25 July 1987.[75][76] The election waschallenged unsuccessfully in theSupreme Court by Mithilesh Kumar.[77] Coming after a series of electoral defeats, controversies over defence deals and the uneasy relationship between Prime Minister Gandhi and President Zail Singh, the election result was perceived as a boost to the Congress Party.[78]
Venkataraman served asPresident of India starting 1987, where he worked with four prime ministers, and appointed three of them:V. P. Singh,Chandra Shekhar andP. V. Narasimha Rao, during his five-year term, which saw the advent of coalition politics in India. His successorS. D. Sharma was the only other Indian President in 20th Century to work with four prime ministers and appoint three of them.[79][80] According to his book, My Presidential Years, Venkataraman noted that a Congress MP approached him with the idea of seeking a second term, which he "categorically" declined.Desire for retirement: Venkataraman explained that he did not want to be involved in the political maneuvering necessary for a second term.
Venkataraman returned to Chennai after retiring, but moved back to Delhi a few years later.[81]
Venkataraman received the Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa) from theUniversity of Madras. He is an Honorary Fellow,Madras Medical College; a Doctor of Social Sciences,University of Roorkee; Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) from theUniversity of Burdwan. He was awarded the Tamra Patra for participation in the freedom struggle, the Soviet Land Prize for his travelogue onK. Kamaraj's visit to the Socialist countries. He was the recipient of a Souvenir from the Secretary-General of the United Nations for distinguished service as President of the U.N. Administrative Tribunal. The title of "Sat Seva Ratna" was conferred on him by the Sankaracharya of Kancheepuram. He was a great devotee of theParamacharya of Kanchi.[82][7]
On 12 January 2009, Venkataraman was admitted to the Army Hospital (then Research and Referral) in New Delhi with complaints of Urosepsis (sepsis caused by a urinary tract infection).[83] His condition grew critical on 20 January, when he was detected withlow blood pressure andE. coli tract infection.
Venkataraman died at the age of 98 on 27 January 2009 at 14:30 IST,[83] due to multiple organ failure.[84] Since he died on the day afterRepublic Day, some programmes coinciding it were cancelled to mark the respect towards the late former President. He was cremated with full state honours at Ekta Sthal nearRaj Ghat. PresidentPratibha Patil, Vice PresidentMohammad Hamid Ansari, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, and various other leaders condoled his death.
He was married toJanaki Venkataraman, and had a daughter.[85]
many Brahmins like R Venkataraman, Mani Shankar Aiyar, and Subramanian Swamy shot into prominence in politics in later years, they chose to operate from Delhi.
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