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Concept
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Summary
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the fifth president of India from 1974 to 1977.
Born in Delhi, Ahmed studied in Delhi and Cambridge and was called to the bar from the Inner Temple, London in 1928. Returning to India, he practiced law in Lahore and then in Guwahati. Beginning a long association with the Indian National Congress in the 1930s, Ahmed was finance minister of Assam in the Gopinath Bordoloi ministry in 1939. He became the Advocate General of Assam in 1946, and was finance minister again from 1957 to 1966 under Bimala Prasad Chaliha. He was made a national cabinet minister by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1966 and was in charge of various ministries including Power, Irrigation, Industries and Agriculture. He was elected president of India over Tridib Chaudhuri in 1974.
As president, Ahmed imposed the Emergency in August 1975 and gave his assent to numerous ordinances and constitutional amendments that severely restricted civil liberties and allowed Indira Gandhi to rule by decree. He supported the Emergency in public speeches. Lampooned in an iconic cartoon by Abu Abraham, Ahmed’s reputation was tarnished by his support for the Emergency. He has been described as a rubber stamp president.
Ahmed died in February 1977 of a heart attack. He was accorded a state funeral and is buried in a masjid near Parliament House in New Delhi. Ahmed, who was the second Muslim to become the president of India, was also the second president to die in office. Ahmed was succeeded by B. D. Jatti as acting president and by Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as the sixth president of India in 1977.
Ahmed was born in Delhi on 13 May 1905. Ahmed’s grandfather, Kaliluddin Ali Ahmed, was an Islamic scholar and his father, Col. Zalnur Ali was a doctor who belonged to the Indian Medical Service and is thought to be the first medical graduate from Assam. Ahmed's mother, Sahibzadi Ruqaiyya Sultan, was a daughter of the Nawab of Loharu. Ahmed was one of ten children, including five sons, of Colonel Ali.
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