KR Narayanan

KR Narayanan, 2000

KR Narayanan ( Kocheril Raman Narayanan ; Malayalam കെ.ആർ. നാരായണൻ ; born October 27, 1920 in Uzhavoor , Kerala ; † November 9, 2005 in New Delhi ) was an Indian politician and President of the Republic of India from 1997 to 2002 .

Life

During the British colonial era he became a teacher, then a journalist, and received a scholarship from the renowned London School of Economics . From there, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru brought him into the foreign service, for which he worked, among other things, as ambassador in Beijing and Washington.

In the mid-1980s he switched to politics. He became a member of parliament, then a minister. In 1992, he rose to become vice-president and was on 14 July 1997 by a large majority for the President of India elected . The official announcement of the election results took place on July 17, 1997, and he took office on July 25. With him, a Dalit , a member of an untouchable caste , assumed the highest office in the state for the first time. He held the office until July 2002 and campaigned for the abolition of the 3,500 year old Indian caste system. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam succeeded him on July 18, 2002.

literature

• The untouchable . In: Die Zeit , No. 29/1997, interview

Web links

Commons : Kocheril Raman Narayanan  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Speech by Shri Kocheril Raman Narayanan on his assumption of office as President of India ( Memento of August 4, 1997 in the Internet Archive ), July 25, 1997