Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed | |
---|---|
5th President of India | |
In office 24 August 1974 – 11 February 1977 |
|
Preceded by | V. V. Giri |
Succeeded by | Basappa Danappa Jatti (Acting) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Delhi, British India (now in India) |
13 May 1905
Died | 11 February 1977 New Delhi, Delhi, India |
(aged 71)
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Spouse(s) | Begum Abida Ahmed |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater |
St Catharine's College, Cambridge St. Stephen's College, Delhi |
Profession | Lawyer |
Religion | Islam |
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (13 May 1905 – 11 February 1977) was the fifth President of India from 1974 to 1977 and also the 2nd President of India to die in office.
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was born on 13 May 1905, at the Hauz Qazi area of Old Delhi, India. His father, Col. Zalnur Ali Ahmed, was the first Assamese person to have an M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) degree and also the first one from North-East India. His mother was a daughter of the Nawab of Loharu. Ahmed's grandfather, Khaliluddin Ali Ahmed, was from Kacharighat near Golaghat, Assam, and hailed from a well-known Assamese Muslim family.
Ahmed was educated at the Government High School in Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh, and matriculated from the Delhi Government High School. He attended St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple of London and began legal practice in the Lahore High Court in 1928.
He met Jawaharlal Nehru in England in 1925. He joined the Indian National Congress and actively participated in the Indian freedom movement. In 1942 he was arrested in the Quit India movement and sentenced to 3 1/2 years' imprisonment. He was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee from 1936 and of AICC from 1947 to 74, and remained the Minister of Finance, Revenue and labour in the 1938 Gopinath Bordoloi Ministry.