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V. V. Giri

1-Varahagiri Venkata Giri commonly known as V. V. Giri, was the fourth President of the Republic of India from 24 August 1969 to 24 August 1974.

2-Giri was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed as President in 1974.

3-Giri was born in Berhampur in the Ganjam district of Odisha, into a Telugu Brahmin family.

4-V. V. Jogayya Pantulu, was his father, who a successful lawyer and political activist of the Indian National Congress.

5-Giri’s mother Subhadramma was active in the national movement in Berhampur during the Non Cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements.

6-Subhadramma was arrested for leading a strike for prohibition during the Civil Disobedience Movement.

7-Giri was married to Saraswati Bai and the couple had 14 children.

8-During the First World War, Giri travelled from Dublin to London and met with Mahatma Gandhi.

9-Giri was active in both Indian and Irish politics during his studies.

10- In 1916 Giri returned to India, enrolled at the Madras High Court. V V Giri also became a member of the Congress party, attended its Lucknow session and joined the Home Rule Movement of Annie Beasant.

11-In 1922, he was arrested for the first time for demonstrating against the sale of liquor shops

12-He was elected president of the All India Trade Union Congress for the first time in 1926.

13- V. V. founded the Bengal Nagpur Railway Association and in 1928 led the workers of the Bengal Nagpur Railway in a non violent strike for the rights of retrenched workers.

14-Giri became a member of the Imperial Legislative Assembly in 1934.

15- Giri was appointed Governor of the National Planning Committee of the Indian National Congress in 1938.

16-Following the launch of the Quit India Movement, Giri was imprisoned again by the colonial government in 1942.

17-In the General Elections of 1946, Giri was reelected to the Madras Legislative Assembly and became a minister again in charge of the labour portfolio under T. Prakasam

18-Between 1947 – 1951, Giri served as India’s first High Commissioner to Ceylon.

19- In June 1957, he was appointed Governor of Uttar Pradesh.

20-Between 1957-1967, Giri served as governor of Uttar Pradesh (1957–1960), Kerala (1960–1965) and Karnataka (1965–1967).

21-Giri was elected the third Vice President of India on 13 May 1967, a post he held for nearly two years till 3 May 1969.

22-Following the death in office of President Zakir Hussain on 3 May 1969, Giri was sworn in as acting President the same day.

23-He was succeeded as Acting President by Mohammad Hidayatullah, the Chief Justice of India

24-Giri was sworn in as President of India on 24 August 1969 and held office till 24 August 1974 when he was succeeded by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

25-Giri is regarded as a President who completely subordinated himself to the Prime Minister and has been described as a “Prime Minister’s President”, a loyalist President and a rubber stamp President.

26-Giri was honoured with India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1975 for his contributions in the area of public affairs

27- Giri had suo motu conferred the Bharat Ratna on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1972.

28-Giri was in turn conferred the Bharat Ratna in 1975 on the recommendation of Prime Minister Gandhi

29- Giri was the fourth of five of Presidents of India to have been conferred the Bharat Ratna

30-Giri died of a heart attack in Madras on 24 June 1980. He was given a state funeral the next day and a week-long mourning period was declared by the Government of India.

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