Obituary of K R Narayanan

Tribute to former President of India late Shri K R Narayanan S.N.Sahu Today is the 13th Death anniversary of Shri K.R.Narayanan who was VC of JNU and rose to become  the President of India and served the nation in that capacity  during 1997-2002. On demitting office he  had famously stated in an interview to a Malayalam daily that he learnt the art of leadership in JNU campus during his tenure as its VC.  A student of London School of Economics he was taught by Karl Popper and Professor Harold Laski. In fact professor Laski  in a letter to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru described Mr. Narayanan as a man with wide social sympathy. It was remarkable that Shri Narayanan  was the President of India when our country celebrated the golden jubilee of our independence, the Constitution  and Republic. The President takes oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. In fact the way he defended our Constitution and Secularism remains an unparalleled example for others to follow. Incidentally  when NDA Government led by  Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee contemplated  to review the Constitution, Mr. Narayanan while delivering his speech on the occasion of the golden jubilee of our Republic very searchingly asked, "Let us examine if the Constitution has failed us or we have failed the Constitution".

It was because of that sharp interrogation by the head of the Republic that  the Vajpayee Government in stead of reviewing the Constitution reviewed the Working of the Constitution. When some of the victims of Gujarat riots that took place in 2002 visited Delhi none from the NDA Government including Prime Minister Vajpayee met them. Shri Narayanan was the only State functionary who met them and  described the riots as the "crisis of our State and Society". When he met professor Stephen Hawking and media asked him about his experiences in meeting that great scientist he with characteristic brilliance  said "Professor Hawking represented triumph of human spirit over matter".

In fact Mr. Narayanan's life and work represented that triumph of human spirit over matter.  As President of India he  had repeatedly cautioned that the ever rising counter culture of communalism was exerting enormous pressure on our constitution, secularism and civilizational values of tolerance and acceptance . When he  was a young reporter of Times of India in 1945 he interviewed Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai and asked some very pertinent questions which are now being raised for addressing the deprivation caused  by hierarchical structures of violence manifested in the form of caste and other primordial categories. When he proposed Vajpayee to confer Bharat Ratna on Bismillha Khan the later  readily agreed and recommended President to consider the name of Savarkar for posthumously conferring  the Bharat Ratna. Mr. Narayanan sat over the proposal and Vajpayee later withdrew Savarkar's name for the highest civilian honour. I had the good fortune of serving him and on this solemn occasion I pay my homage to him and pray that his enduring legacy for defending Constitution and Secularism will inspire people to uphold and defend these twin pillars of our Republic when there is upsurge of communal forces all around posing danger to the Idea of India.

The author served as Officer on Special Duty and Press Secretary to President of India late Shri K.R.Narayanan and had a tenure as Director in Prime Minister's Office and Joint Secretary in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.