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PRESIDENTS OF INDIA
Dr. Zakir Hussain
Dr. Zakir Hussain was born at Hyderabad on February 8, 1897
and suddenly death on 3 May, 1969.
DR. ZAKIR HUSSAIN was born at Hyderabad on
February 8, 1897, he came of a Pathan family of the upper middle-class, settled
at Qaunganj in the District of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Fida
Hussain Khan, went to Hyderabad, studied Law and had a most successful career.
Unfortunately, he died when Dr. Zakir Hussain was only ten years old.
Dr. Zakir Hussain was sent first for his
education to the Islamia High School in Etawah (U.P.) which specialised in
puritanical strictures. After finishing school, he joined the M.A.O. College at
Aligarh and studied upto the M.A. When the Indian National Congress and the All
India Khilafat Committee joined hands in launching the Non-Cooperation Movement,
Mahatma Gandhi toured the country to induce teachers and students to leave
Government administered schools and colleges. The young Zakir Hussain, who was
then half-student and half-teacher, very prominent among the students and very
popular with a large section of the staff, persuaded Hakim Ajmal Khan and other
leaders to establish a national institution at Aligarh, and the Jamia Millia
Islamia came into being on 29 October, 1920. But Zakir Hussain did not wish to
leave his studies incomplete and he went to the University of Berlin in Germany
for higher studies in 1923, returning with a doctorate in Economics three years
later. He rejoined the Jamia Millia in February-March, 1926 and became the
Shaikhu Jamia (Vice-Chancellor). It was at the Jamia Millia that Dr. Zakir
Hussain developed his gifts as an educationist. It was his experience here as
well as his deep study of the philosophy of education which enable him to take
charge of the scheme of Basic National Education when it was launched in 1938.
He was the President of Hindustani Talimi Sangh, Sevagram from 1938 to 1948.
In November 1948, Dr. Zakir Hussain was appointed
Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. He was also nominated a member
of the Indian Universities Commission. The World University Service made him the
Chairman of the Indian National Committee and in 1954 he was elected the World
President of the organization. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha and made
the Indian representative on the Executive Board of the UNESCO from 1956 to
1958. He remained the Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, till 1957,
a member of the University Grants Commission till 1957, a member of the
University Education Commission in 1948-1949 and of the Educational
Reorganisation Committee of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In 1957 he
was appointed the Governor of Bihar and in 1962 he was declared elected as the
Head of the State and was formally sworn in as the Third President of the Indian
Republic four days later. He held the highest office of the country with
exemplary grace and dignity till his sudden death on 3 May, 1969.
Dr. Zakir Hussain was awarded Padma Vibhushan in
1954 and Bharat Ratna in 1963. He was awarded D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) by the
Universities of Delhi, Calcutta, Aligarh, Allahabad and Cairo.
Many demands were made on Dr. Zakir Hussain's
time and he was not able to undertake many scholarly projects which he had in
mind. His interest in literary and academic work was so keen that he translated
Plato's 'Republic' and Cannon's 'Elementary Political Economy'into Urdu soon
after joining the Jamia Millia in 1920. While in Germany, he got an edition of
the 'Diwan-I-Ghalib' printed - doing much of the compositing himself, because
the press did not have enough staff - and also brought out a book in German on
Mahatma Gandhi (Die Botschaft des Mahatma Gandhi') . He delivered a series of
lectures on economics under the auspices of the Hindustani Academy and another
series in English, on Capitalism: Essays in Understanding, under the auspices of
the Delhi University in 1945. He also translated Friedrich List's 'Nationalockonomic'.
His Convocation Addresses have been collected and published under the title "The
Dynamic University". But he excelled in writing for children and his stories are
masterpieces of style.
Tall, well-built, fair in complexion, with anoble
forehead, a sensitive aristocratic nose, a well-trimmed beard and always neatly
and tastefully dressed in sherwani and pyjama, Dr. Zakir Hussain was an imposing
embodiment of culture and refinement. He was sensitive to beauty in all its
forms and had an intense passion for excellence. His varied tastes and hobbies,
his love of roses, his collection of cacti, fossils, paintings and specimens of
calligraphy, objets d'art, and curios and above all, his rich library are
evidence of his versatile personality.
He was steeped in the spiritual and aesthetic
culture and the ethical principles of the Muslim Sufis and poets. He had the
sufi's indifference towards the externals of religion and, though a deeply
religious man, his religiosity was never obvious. It was the inspiration for
secularism by which he endeared himself to men of different religious
communities.
Dr. Zakir Hussain's nationalism was, like
Gandhiji's, a reflection of his allegiance to the highest moral values and to
the ideals of a culture which had become the whole of his own self. It was a
nationalism which demanded for the individual that freedom which is the essence
of democracy, that self-discipline which is the foundation of democratic
citizenship and that identification with the good of the society which gives
substance and meaning to the life of the individual.
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