Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

FAKHRUDDIN ALI  AHMED- (13^th  May 1905- 11^th February 1977) was fifth President of India from 1974 to 1977. Fakhruddin’s grandfather, Khaliluddin Ali Ahmed, of Kacharighat near Golaghat Assam, was married into one of the families who were the relics of  Emperor Aurangzeb’s bid to conquer Assam. Ahmed was born on 13^th May 1905, in Hauz Qazi Area in old Delhi. His father was Col.Zalnur Ali who married the daughter of the Nawab of Loharu in Delhi. He belonged to Gujjar Community. He started his education in the Government high school from Gonda District, Uttar Pradesh, India. He matriculated from the Delhi government high school and went to England for higher education in 1923 continuing studies at St Cathorine’s college, Cambridge and was called to the bar from the inner temple of London. He started legal practice in the Lahore high court in 1928.

He met Jawaharlal Nehru in England in 1925. He joined the Indian National Congress and actively participated in the Indian Freedom Movement. In 1942 he was arrested in the Quit India Movement. He was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress committee from1936. After Independence he was elected to the Rajya Sabha (1952-1953) and thereafter became Advocate General of the government of Assam. He was elected on congress ticket to the Assam Legislative Assembly on two terms (1957-1962) and (1962-1967). Subsequently he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Barpeta constituency, Assam in 1967 and again in 1971. In the central cabinet he was given important portfolios relating to Food and Agriculture, Co-operation, Education, Industrial Development and company laws. He was picked for the presidency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974, and on 20th August 1974 he became the second Muslim to be elected President of India. He used his constitutional authority as head of state to allow her to rule by decree once emergency in India was proclaimed in 1975. He was the second Indian president to die in office, on 11 February 1977. Today his grave lies right across parliament of India, next sunhari masjid at sansas chowk, in New Delhi.

He was awarded the honorary doctorate by the University of Pristinia in Kosovo in 1975, during his visit to Yogoslavia. He was elected President of Assam Football Association and the Assam Cricket Association for several terms; he was also the Vice- President of the Assam Sports Council. In April 1967, he was elected president of the All India Cricket Association. He was a member of the Delhi Golf club and the Delhi Gymkhana club from 1961.