Former President R Venkataraman passes away!

Former Indian President, Ramaswamy Venkataraman, succumbed to multiple organ failure on January 27 after a fortnight long hospitalization at the Army Hospital in Delhi. The 98-year old ex-President was admitted to the hospital on January 12 with complaints of urosepsis which is an infection of the urinary tract. He is survived by his wife Janaki and three daughters.

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The government declared a week long state mourning and canceled all remaining ceremonies related to the Republic Day celebrations including ‘Beating the Retreat’ as a mark of respect to the former president.

Describing his rise to presidency, Venkataraman, said: “from Rajamadam (birth place) to Rashtrapati Bhawan (Presidential Palace) is a long journey.”

Venkataraman became a trade union lawyer rising from grass root level politics and went on to become a trade union leader. Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru spotted him during parliamentary debates and sent him as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly for debates.

Venkataraman served a prison term during the Quit India Movement. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Indian Constitution.

Venkataraman served as the Industries Minister under Kamaraj before the split in Congress. He was appointed as a member of the Planning Commission and later served as the Union Finance Minister before becoming the Union Defence Minister. Venkataraman was the Vice President of India before he took over as the eighth President of India.

Ascending to presidency during difficult times when coalition politics was becoming the order of the day and religion had come to play a significant role in politics, Venkataraman advocated the formation of a national government instead of a coalition government to tide over the crises in case of a fractured verdict.

In his Presidential term (July 25, 1987 to July 25, 1992), Venkataraman worked with four Indian Prime Ministers: Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandrashekhar and P.V. Narasimha Rao all of whom have left for their heavenly abodes before him. The last one to go was V.P. Singh who died end of last year.

Being a Congress nominee, it was difficult to deal with the political leaders from other parties on contentious issues but Venkataraman always played by the rule book sometimes upsetting his Congress colleagues.

During his tenure he had to deal with such contentious political and constitutional predicaments as sending the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka, the Bofors Gun Deal, the Harshad Mehta stock scam and Rajiv Gandhi assassination among others. He rose to the occasion each time the situation demanded. He was always resolute and acted with courage of conviction and integrity.

R. Venkataraman, who was referred to as ‘R V’ by some of his colleagues, close friends and journalists proved that the President of India is not simply a titular head of the state the way the office of the president is interpreted according to the Indian Constitution. True he was given to a few antics after his retirement but that must be viewed against the totality of his personality.

I salute you RV and I offer this humble piece as my lasting tribute to the values you cherished and lived for.