S D Sharma passes away

Sharma leaves his wife Vimla Sharma, two sons and a daughter. His wife and other family members were at his bed side at the time of his death.Sharma was suffering from cardiac and breathing problem and had been put on ventilator for some time in the recent past.

A grassroots Congressman, Sharma will go down in history as the country8217;s President who had a mind of his own and boldly discharged his constitutional duties without fear or favour.

Holders of prominent public offices should set quot;salutary example of rectitude and of high standards of personal conduct and accountabilityquot; 8211; Sharma had said in his address to the nation on the eve of Republic Day in 1996. And hepractised it.

Sharma8217;s life-long association with the Congress did not prevent him from returning the P V Narasimha Rao government8217;s poll-eve ordnances for a shorter poll campaign period and extending reservation quota to Dalit Christians in 1996, proving his courage which he retained till his last day at Raisina Hills on July 24, 1997.

Faced with a dilemma after the 1996 Lok Sabha polls, Sharma called Atal Behari Vajpayee to form a government merely on the strength of the BJP emerging as the single-largest party.

Born in 1918 in Bhopal, the erudite scholar and freedom fighter who braved British batons and jail during the 1942 Quit India movement, capped his distinguished public life as a scrupulously impartial head of the state when he took over from R Venkataraman as the ninth President on July 16, 1992.Affectionately called Doctor Saheb8217;, Sharma had been a teacher, chief minister, Union minister, Congress president and Governor before taking over as Rajya Sabha chairman in turbulent times.

An MAin English, Hindi and Sanskrit, Master of Law and Bar at Law, Ph.D from Cambridge and Brandies Fellow of the Harvard Law School, Sharma8217;s stewardship of the Upper House proved his merit for Presidentship.