R Venkataraman, one of the most distinguished statesmen Tamil Nadu has produced, first achieved fame when as Industries Minister of Tamil Nadu he put his home state firmly on the path of industrialization and prosperity. One of the stalwarts of the Congress Party known for his integrity and sagacity in times of crisis, he acted with great dignity and wisdom as President of India, when he set impeccable constitutional precedents under extraordinary circumstances.
Ramaswami Venkataraman was born on 4 December 1910 in the village of Rajamadam, Tanjavur District, Tamil Nadu. Educated locally and in the city of Madras, Venkataraman obtained his Masters in Economics from the University of Madras. He later qualified in Law from the Law College, Madras. He enrolled in the High Court of Madras in 1935 and in the Supreme Court in the year 1951. While practising law, he was drawn into the India’s freedom movement and the Indian National Congress. His active participation in the Quit India movement of 1942 resulted in his imprisonment for two years. Venkataraman’s interest in the law continued during this period.
When Britain was about to transfer power to India, RV, as he became popularly known, was chosen a member of a panel of lawyers sent to Malaya and Singapore by the Government of India to defend Indian nationals charged with offences of collaboration during the Japanese occupation there. Venkataraman served as Secretary of the Madras Provincial Bar Federation during 1947-1950.
Early in his legal career, RV acquired an abiding interest in the law pertaining to labour. In 1944, he took up the organisation of the labour section of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. In 1949, he founded, the Labour Law Journal which publishes important decisions pertaining to labour. He came to be intimately associated with trade union activity, founding or leading several unions, including those for plantation workers, estate staff, dock-workers, railway workers and working journalists. He is remembered even today as the father of industrialisation of Tamil Nadu. He also took a direct and keen interest in the conditions of agricultural workers in his home district of Tanjavur.
Law and trade union activity led to Venkataraman’s increasing association with politics. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution. In 1950 he was elected to free India’s provisional Parliament (1950-1952) and to the first Parliament (1952-1957). During his term of legislative activity, he attended the 1952 session of the metal trades committee of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as a workers’ delegate. He was a member of the Indian parliamentary delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in New Zealand. Venkataraman was also secretary to the Congress Parliamentary Party in 1953-1954. Although re-elected to Parliament in 1957, he resigned his seat in the Lok Sabha to join the Government of Madras as a Minister. He held the portfolios of Industries, Labour, Cooperation, Power, Transport and Commercial Taxes from 1957 to 1967. During this time, he was also Leader of the Upper House, namely, the Madras Legislative Council.
RV was appointed a Member of the Union Planning Commission in 1967 and entrusted the subjects of Industry, Labour, Power, Transport, Communications and Railways. He held that office until 1971. In 1977, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Madras (South) constituency and served as an opposition Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. In 1980, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha and was appointed Union Minister of Finance in the Government headed by Smt Indira Gandhi. He was later appointed Union Minister of Defence.
Venkataraman was also a member of the Political Affairs Committee and the Economic Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet; Governor, International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank. He was a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961. He was Leader of the Indian Delegation to the 42nd Session of the International Labour Conference at Geneva (1958) and represented India in the Inter Parliamentary Conference in Vienna (1978). He was a Member, United Nations Administrative Tribunal, from 1955 to 1979 and was its President from 1968 to 1979.
Venkataraman was elected to the office of the President of India, and sworn in on
25 July 1987. He was the eighth president. He wrote in his memoirs, ‘My Presidential Years’: “I had reached the pinnacle of my political career. I had not aspired to, longed for or canvassed for any office that I had held. Each one of the transitions – from the Ministry of Finance to Defence, from Defence to the Vice-Presidency, and from there to the Presidency – had come to me naturally without my particularly seeking them. Now there was no higher office to which I could aspire. All I wanted was to serve the country honestly, diligently and effectively. When C Rajagopalachari laid down office as the last Governor-General of India, Pandit Nehru said of him that he was a man who looked upon a palace as a cottage and a cottage as a palace. I was determined to emulate his example and remain my essential modest self, not overawed by the pomp and panoply of residence in Rashtrapati Bhavan”. His tenure as President of India between 1987 and 1992 was marked by a series of political crises leading to the appointment of three Prime Ministers in two years.
A distinguished public personality, versatile parliamentarian and adept administrator, Venkataraman was a true patriot who served the nation with distinction in various capacities in public life, and rose to occupy the highest office. He has left a distinct mark in society and in the polity with his innate simplicity, vast erudition and experience and deep sensitivity for the poor and the deprived. An outstanding figure in public life, he will be long remembered for his services to the nation, the strength of his character and his knowledge and wisdom. A true believer in the Gandhi-Nehru tradition, he always remained a stickler for rules.
Venkataraman was perhaps the last of the great public servants who came out of the Congress stable in the old Madras Presidency and who distinguished themselves at the national level.
He was in league with stalwarts like C Rajagopalachari, T T Krishnamachari, Kamaraj and C Subramaniam.
Among the many contributions he made to worthy causes were the key role he played in ensuring the stability and longevity of the premier art institution the Kalakshetra Foundation, and the welfare of the late M S Subbulakshmi in her old age after she had given away all her earnings to charity.
Venkataraman died on 27 January 2009 survived by his wife Janaki and three daughters.
Illustration by V Vijayakumar
Career highlights
Venkataraman was elected Vice-President of India in August, 1984. He was, simultaneously, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States), the Second Chamber of the Indian Parliament.
As Vice-President of India, he was Chairman of the Jury for the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and of the International Jury for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. He was Vice-Chairman of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund; Trustee, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust; President, Indian Institute of Public Administration; Chancellor, Gandhigram Rural Institute; Chancellor, Delhi University; Chancellor, Punjab University and President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Awards and honours Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa) from the University of Madras Doctorate of Law (Honoris Causa) from Nagarjuna University Honorary Fellow, Madras Medical College Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Roorkee Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) from University of Burdwan The Tamra Patra for participation in the freedom struggle Soviet Land Prize for his travelogue on Kamaraj’s visit to the Socialist countries Souvenir from the Secretary-General of the United Nations for distinguished service as President of the U.N. Administrative Tribunal Sat Seva Ratna title conferred by His Holiness the Sankaracharya of Kanchi.