Ramaswamy Venkataraman

Ramaswamy Venkataraman (born December 4, 1910, Rajamadam, Madras Presidency [now Tamil Nadu], India—died January 27, 2009, New Delhi) was an Indian politician, government official, and lawyer who was president of India from 1987 to 1992.

Lawyer, independence activist, and politician

Venkataraman studied law at the University of Madras and began his legal practice in 1935. He became involved in India’s independence struggle and was consequently jailed by the British (1942–44). After his release he continued to practice law and helped draft India’s constitution, which was adopted in 1950. Venkataraman was elected to independent India’s Provisional Parliament in 1950 as a member of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party). He subsequently was a member of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian parliament) from 1952 to 1957 and from 1977 onward.

State politics and return to central government

In 1957 Venkataraman resigned his Lok Sabha seat and joined the government of Madras state (now Tamil Nadu) at the behest of the chief minister, Kumaraswami Kamaraj, a veteran Congress Party leader. Venkataraman was elected to the Madras Legislative Council, the upper house of the bicameral state legislature. Until 1967 he was minister of industry and labor and oversaw a period of industrial development in Madras state. He has been credited with persuading several top Indian manufacturers to establish production plants in the state. These companies included heavy vehicle manufacturers Ashok Leyland, Hindustan Motors, and Enfield.

Venkataraman returned to India’s central government after the Congress Party lost the state assembly elections of 1967 to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He was reelected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 and 1980. He served as minister of finance and industry (1980–82) and minister of defense (1982–84) in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government.

President of India

After serving as vice president of India in 1984–87, Venkataraman was elected to the largely ceremonial post of president in July 1987. During his five-year term as president, he worked with four Indian prime ministers: Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, and P.V. Narasimha Rao. Venkataraman’s presidency spanned such crises as the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi; the Bofors controversy, in which top Congress Party leaders were accused of receiving kickbacks from a Swedish arms manufacturer to secure a defense contract; and a 1992 stock market scam in which broker Harshad Mehta manipulated the Bombay Stock Exchange (India’s leading market index), defrauding investors of $10 million. Venkataraman is believed to have encouraged scientist and future president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to develop India’s missile program in a cohesive manner instead of in phases.