Election of K.R. Narayanan, first Dalit President of India by Aditya Raj
A life less ordinary was what. That was the life the 10th President of India, Kocheril Raman Narayanan lived, serving as the President of India from 1997 to 2002. He was also the ninth Vice President of India from 1992 to 1997
Before becoming India’s President, K.R. Narayanan wore many hats. He was a statesman, diplomat, academician, and politician, and even had a brief stint in journalism.
Election of K.R. Narayanan, first Dalit President of India by Aditya Raj
Born on February 4, 1921, KRN’s family belonged to the Paravan caste that practiced fishery, boat-building, and sea trade. But his father, Kocheril Raman Vaidyar, was a well-respected practitioner of Ayurveda, but the . KRN’s family was poor and couldn’t afford KRN’shis education.
Election of K.R. Narayanan, first Dalit President of India by Aditya Raj
Overcoming many struggles, KRN got his B.A. (Honors) and M.A. in English Literature (1940-1943) from the University of Travancore. or what is the University of Kerala now.
Soon after completing his Master’s degree in Kerala, he moved to Delhi and worked with The Hindu and The Times of India between 1944 and 1945. In 1944, KRN won the Tata Scholarship, to read politics, economics, and journalism at the London School of Economics. At LSE, he studied under economist and political theorist Harold Laski.
When he finished his degree at LSE, Laski wrote KRN a letter of introduction that he was supposed to give to Jawahar Lal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India. When KRN returned from London, he sought an appointment with the PM. The meeting in the Parliament House was cordial, and when it was time to leave, KRN handed Laski’s letter over to the PM.. He was halfway across the great circular corridor when Nehru called him back and asked him why the letter wasn’t handed over earlier. KRN explained,
“Well, sir, I am sorry. I thought it would be enough if I just handed it over while leaving”.
Election of K.R. Narayanan, first Dalit President of India by Aditya Raj
Not too long after this meeting, KRN entered the Indian Foreign Service, in 1949. He served as ambassador to Myanmar, Japan, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Turkey, China, and the United States.
In 1976, when he went to China, it was for the first time in 15 years that an Indian ambassador was sent there.
It was an attempt to mend the relations between the two nations. Nehru had once called him “the best diplomat of the country,” and it was not without reason.
Election of K.R. Narayanan, first Dalit President of India by Aditya Raj
Later, when he entered politics, he won three successive general elections to Lok Sabha in 1984, 1989, and 1991 from Kerala’s Palakkad and was a minister in Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet.
Election of K.R. Narayanan, first Dalit President of India by Aditya Raj
It was during his stay in Rangoon (present-day Yangon), Myanmar, that he met his wife. Ma Tint Tint had returned from studies in Delhi and had heard about a distinguished Indian who was an ex-student from the LSE and was serving as an ambassador to Myanmar.
She wanted KRN to speak to an academic group in Rangoon, but that one short meeting soon turned into a lifelong association. Ma Tint Tint married KRN and became Usha Narayanan, who would follow her husband in his later posting to Japan, a country that had overrun and occupied her home nation.
Election of K.R. Narayanan, first Dalit President of India by Aditya Raj
“So, my image of a President is of a working President, not an executive President, but a working President, and working within the four corners of the Constitution,” he said in one of his interviews with the press.
And work he did. He was vocal about the plight of Dalits, Adivasi people, and women in the country. He never hesitated to speak his mind and sought to end violence and corruption and improve international relations.
On November 9, 2005, KRN succumbed to pneumonia and kidney failure and India lost one of the finest Presidents in the nation's history. His legacy, however, lives on.
Illustrations by Aditya Raj