India’s eighth President worked with four different Prime Ministers in a single five-year term — more than any President before him. This article covers R. Venkataraman’s life and presidency.
MCQquestion.comPolity0077 · Indian Polity and Constitution
R. Venkataraman
Four Prime Ministers in one term — more than any President before him
1942
Jailed for Quit India
Spends two years in prison for taking part in the Quit India Movement.
1984
Becomes Vice President
Serves until 1987, just before his own presidential run.
25 Jul 1987
Becomes 8th President
Takes office as India moves from single-party dominance toward the coalition era.
1989–1991
Works with four different PMs
Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, and P.V. Narasimha Rao, through a hung Parliament and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
The Coalition Era Begins
No President before him had to seat four separate governments in one term. His rule — always call the largest party first — became the template later Presidents leaned on.
Must Know
- R. Venkataraman was India’s eighth President, serving from 25 July 1987 to 25 July 1992.
- Born on 4 December 1910 in Rajamadam, Tamil Nadu, he trained as a lawyer, practising at the Madras High Court and later the Supreme Court.
- He took part in the Quit India Movement of 1942, and was jailed for two years for it.
- Before becoming President, he served as Vice President of India from 1984 to 1987.
- During his term, he worked with four different Prime Ministers: Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, and P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Good to Know
- His presidency spanned major crises, including the 1989 election that produced no single-party majority, and the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi during campaigning.
- In 1989, he appointed V.P. Singh as Prime Minister, since Singh’s Janata Dal-led National Front held the largest bloc in a hung Lok Sabha.
- He also presided over the early years of India’s 1991 economic liberalisation, under Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.
- He believed the safest rule for a President facing a hung Parliament was simply to invite the largest party’s leader to form the government, since this kept the office above suspicion of bias.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- Venkataraman himself noted a structural tension in the office: Britain’s monarch is above party politics by birth, but India’s President is chosen by an electoral college dominated by the very parties whose disputes the President may have to referee.
- His presidency marks India’s shift from single-party dominance to the coalition era. No President before him had to seat four separate governments inside one term.
- His preferred rule — always call the largest party first — became close to an unwritten convention for later Presidents facing hung Parliaments, including his successors in 1996 and beyond.
Leave a Reply