Presidents of India and the controversies they got into

Zakir Hussain
Rajendra Prasad
Prime Minister
President
Pratibha Patil
Pranab Mukherjee
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Congress
Abdul Kalam

S RADHAKRISHNAN
1962-1967: Most cerebral of Presidents, gave big push to education and teaching.

ZAKIR HUSSAIN
1967-1969: First President to die in office. The educator worked for better study opportunities for Muslims, backed
'nai talim'.

V V GIRI
1969-1974: Was Indira's candidate against Congress syndicate's Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. His win sealed Indira's
leadership. He died in office.

ZAIL SINGH
1982-1987: Entered office as loyalist saying he'd sweep the floor if Indira asked him to, but was locked in row with
Rajiv. Many say he thought of dismissing govt. Conducted himself with dignity during Operation Bluestar.

R VENKATARAMAN
1987-1992: Period when Rajiv lost polls. V P Singh became PM, Chandrasekhar head of rump govt. Swore in
Narasimha Rao as PM. Stirred hornet's nest suggesting formation of national govt after vp govt fell. In 1989, after
Bofors scam, Congress lost polls. Yet, it was the single largest. Venkataraman called largest single party. Rajiv
declined.

S D SHARMA
1992-1997: True-blue Congressman. Criticized for making Vajpayee PM, who resigned after 13 days. Sharma said
he went by principle of appointing the single largest party.

A P J ABDUL KALAM
2002-2007: Election partly accidental as BJP hunted for a name. Most backed the missile man. He signed dissolution
of Bihar assembly, faxed to him when on a foreign tour. Kalam shocked Vajpayee saying before 2004 polls govt's
decision-making powers should cede to him. Did not relent when Vajpayee said Constitution had no provision for
caretaker govt.

RAJENDRA PRASAD
1950-1962 (two terms): Clashed with Nehru over Hindu Code Bill and Somnath temple. Not Nehru's first choice. He
thought C Rajagopalachari was better.

FAKHRUDDIN ALI AHMED

1974-1977: Tenure marked by controversial signing of Emergency proclamation. On June 25, 1975, Indira met him,
said she was imposing Emergency. Around 11pm, she wrote to him formally. Rules say such a request should have
Cabinet approval, which Ahmed didn't ask for. Died in harness.
NEELAM SANJIVA REDDY
1977-1982: Elected unanimously as Janata Party nominee.

K R NARAYANAN
1997-2002: First dalit President. Had uneasy ties with NDA. Insisted on NDA partners giving in writing their support
for Vajpayee. Returned decision to impose central rule in Bihar. Invited Sonia to form govt in April 1999 after
Vajpayee lost by one vote in LS. Wrote to Vajpayee on Gujarat riots.

PRATIBHA PATIL
2007-2012: First woman president, tenure unremarkable. Ended controversially over Pune bungalow which some ex-
servicemen said exceeded her entitlement.

Examples of electoral frauds

Reconstruction, an effort to secure the voting rights of former slaves, ultimately failed in the states of the
former Confederate States of America as reactionary interests used violence and intimidation against
freedmen as well as political legerdemain to disenfranchise African-Americans, including poll taxes and so-
called literacy tests, for almost a century after the American Civil War, ensuring the continuing hegemony
of lite agrarian interests at the expense of all other interests in the South until the
Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Politically enabled by the Reichstag Fire Decree on March 23, 1933, Hitler arrested or murdered all MPs
from the Communist Party of Germany that were unable to flee or hide, and some from the Social
Democratic Party of Germany. He also intimidated most of the other MPs into supporting him. This helped
the NSDAP to get the needed two-thirds-majority to pass the Enabling Act giving Hitler dictatorial powers.
In Romania, the heavily-rigged election formalized the takeover by Communists and the destruction of a
multi-party democracy in 1946.
Ferdinand Marcos, once fairly elected as President of the Philippines, remained in power and became
increasingly dictatorial and kleptocratic, as he succeeded in marginalizing dissent and opposition through
allegedly rigged elections.
Many 3rd World dictatorships and former Warsaw Pact nations held show elections in which results
predictably show that nearly 100% of all eligible voters vote and that nearly 100% of those eligible voters
vote for the prescribed (often only) list of candidates for office or for referendums that favour the Party in
power irrespective of economic conditions and the cruelties of the government.
Slobodan Miloevi was accused of rigging both elections in 1996 and 2000 which was followed by mass
popular protests. He resigned in October 2000.[30]
It was widely held in the Ukrainian media that the Ukrainian election of 2004 was also hit by ballot rigging
and voter intimidation on all sides.[31]
Both tabloid press accusations and several anecdotal public claims of postal vote fraud in
both Birmingham and Hackney dogged many aspects of United Kingdom general election,
2001 and United Kingdom general election, 2005 which were reviewed in the court ofpeal. There were also
claims made over postal vote fraud and intimidation at the 2004 European and local government
elections in Birmingham)
Both the Ugandan election of 2006 [42] and the Kenyan [43] election of 2007 were marred by opposition
claims that the ruling party had cheated its way back into power with the heavy use of electoral fraud.[42]
 As evidence of electoral fraud in Japan, the total number of votes was reported to be larger than that of
voters by 6 in Isahaya, Nagasaki in 2014.[44] Other scandalous evidences regarding the 3 controversial
elections have also been reported.[45][46][47][48] Musashi Co., Ltd, a manufacturing company, mainly operating
the Japanese electoral system, is thought to hold a strong connection with the Liberal Democratic Party of
Japan, hence their regular donations.[49] Since many administrative suits taken to court were dismissed
without adequate deliberations, some plaintiffs have made an appeal to the Supreme Court.[50] However,
no news reports were made on these suits, indicating the involvement of mass media in the rigged
elections, as well as the judicature. In 2015, the LDP was able to dominate both the lower house and
the National Diet, allowing them to pass the notorious "Security Bills", based on the requests stated in "The
Armitage-Nye Report: U.S.-Japan Alliance: Anchoring Stability in Asia".[51]

Republican candidate Donald trump at a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington,

Tennessee. (Source: AP)
Donald Trump, the controversial Republican presidential frontrunner, on Sunday again blamed
India for taking away jobs from Americans, pledging to bring them back if elected president
even as the Trump mania appeared to have picked up in the US ahead of Super Tuesday
showdown.
 The 69-year-old real estate tycoon who became a politician only last summer has been drawing
thousands of crowd across the country, hoped to seal the deal, coming Tuesday by winning
Republican primary in all the 11 states.
Super Tuesday refers to one or more Tuesdays early in a presidential primary season when the
highest number of states hold primary elections.
Addressing a crowd of roughly 5,000 people, a big by US primary election standard inside the
hanger of a local airport in Tennessee, Trump sold the dream of making America great again
by promising to bring back jobs from countries like India, China, Japan and Mexico, building the
wall on US-Mexico border, knocking the hell out ISIS, and repealing and replacing Obama
care.

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Every promise of his drew a thunderous applause with people cheering USA, USA and
Trump, Trump.
People lapped on to every word he said from the makeshift stage with his Trump plane in the
background.
Trump had earlier added India to the list of countries that he believes is taking away jobs from
the US.
What I did on June 16, we came out and we started talking about trade, how were being ripped
off with China, ripped off with Japan, ripped off with Mexico at the border and then trade, ripped
off by Vietnam, and by India, and by every country, Trump had said.
Trump has been regularly singling out China, Japan and Mexico and occasionally Vietnam for
taking away American jobs.
They are taking our jobs. China is taking our jobs. Japan is taking our jobs. India is taking our
jobs. It is not going to happen anymore, folks! Trump told to thunderous applause from the
audience.
Rishu Patel, a Grade 7 student here said, (Trump) will make us safe. Rishu and his father Jitu
Patel were probably the only Indian-Americans at the rally.
Tennessee has around 25,000 Indian-Americans, majority of them living around Nashville and
Memphis, which has one of the oldest Hindu temples built some 20 years ago.
One of his die-hard supporters, Mark, who works in the IT sector was of the view that Indian-
Americans are not taking away the jobs in his sector.
They bring in quality and diversity, he said, displaying a banner which read Trump supporters
are silent majority.
In his 40-minutes speech, Trump reiterated his promise of building a wall along the US-Mexico
border.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie who endorsed Trump on Saturday also spoke at the rally.
Trump is a strong leader and is the best among others in the fray, Christie said.
Hundreds of people came to the Trump rally hours in advance. The venue was full hours before
he arrived.
Latest polls indicate that Trump is leading in 10 of the 11 states, except for Texas where he is
giving a tough fight to his main rival and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.