- Born:
- May 13, 1905, Delhi, India
- Died:
- February 11, 1977, New Delhi (aged 71)
- Title / Office:
- president (1974-1977), India
- Political Affiliation:
- Indian National Congress
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Who was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed?
What was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s role during the Emergency?
What was Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed’s role in the Indian Independence Movement?
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (born May 13, 1905, Delhi, India—died February 11, 1977, New Delhi) was a statesman who was the fifth president of India (1974–77). A lawyer by profession, he participated in the Indian Independence Movement, including the Quit India Movement. He was a member of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party) during the independence movement and remained a staunch supporter of the party after India’s independence in 1947. Before becoming president, he served in several ministerial positions with the Congress Party. As the president of India, Ahmed declared the Emergency on June 25, 1975, on the advice of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, initiating a turbulent period in the country’s history.
Early life
Ahmed, the son of an army doctor from Assam, was born in Delhi. After graduating from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, he went to England, where he studied history at St Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge, graduating in 1927. He was admitted to the bar at Inner Temple in London and began practicing law at the Lahore High Court after returning to India in 1928. He joined the Congress Party in 1931.
Ahmed was elected to the Assam legislature in 1935. As Assam’s minister of finance and revenue in 1938, he introduced bold taxation measures, such as granting a 50 percent land revenue remission to farmers and taxing agricultural income, which boosted the state’s finances. In 1939 Ahmed resigned from his position alongside other Congress Party members in protest after viceroy Lord Linlithgow included India as a participant in World War II. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, he undertook satyagraha in 1940, for which he was imprisoned for about a year. In 1942 he was arrested again and jailed for more than three years for participating in the Quit India Movement. In 1946 he was appointed advocate general of Assam and served in the post until 1951, a period that included India’s independence in 1947.
Political career
Ahmed was elected to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of the Indian parliament) in the early 1950s and served until his resignation later that decade. He returned to Assam politics in 1957, when he was elected to the state legislative assembly, and was reelected five years later. In 1966 he was reelected to the Rajya Sabha and joined Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s first cabinet. He served as minister of irrigation and power, and later education. He was elected to the Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament) in the 1967 general elections and served as the minister of industrial development until June 1970, when he was appointed minister of food and agriculture.
Presidency
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had a deep love for sports. An avid golfer, Ahmed helped revive the Shillong Golf Club in Meghalaya and even resurrected a mini golf course at the Rashtrapati Bhavan (residence of the Indian president) in Delhi. He actively championed cricket, football, and tennis. The President’s Polo Cup was introduced in 1975, while he was serving as president.
Ahmed became India’s fifth president in 1974, the second Muslim after Zakir Husain to hold the post. His presidency was most noted for his declaration of a state of emergency (popularly called the Emergency) on June 25, 1975, at the recommendation of the prime minister:
In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 352 of the Constitution, I, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, President of India, by this proclamation declare that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India is threatened by internal disturbances.
During the Emergency, which lasted until March 21, 1977, democratic institutions were severely undermined. Gandhi’s political opponents were imprisoned, civil liberties were suspended, and the period also saw widespread human rights abuses, including a forced sterilization campaign encouraged by Indira Gandhi’s son, Sanjay Gandhi. Ahmed faced criticism for supporting the Emergency and endorsing controversial constitutional amendments, including giving his assent to the 39th Constitutional Amendment Act, which barred the judiciary from challenging the election of the prime minister. Ahmed died at age 71 of a heart attack in February 1977, about a month before the Emergency ended.
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