1. Zakir Husain Khan was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1962 to 1967 and president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969.
58 Facts About Zakir Husain
1. 2.
Zakir Husain served as the university's vice-chancellor from 1926 to 1948.
3.
In 1937, Zakir Husain chaired the Basic National Education Committee which framed a new educational policy known as Nai Talim which emphasized free and compulsory education in the first language.
4.
Zakir Husain was opposed to the policy of separate electorates for Muslims and, in 1946, the Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah vetoed a proposal by the Indian National Congress to include Husain in the Interim Government of India.
5.
Zakir Husain served as Governor of Bihar from 1957 to 1962 and was elected the Vice President of India in 1962.
6.
Zakir Husain was elected president in 1967, succeeding Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and became the first Muslim to hold the highest constitutional office in India.
7.
Zakir Husain was the first incumbent to die in office and had the shortest tenure of any Indian president.
8.
An author and translator of several books into Urdu and a prolific writer of children's books, Zakir Husain has been commemorated in India through postage stamps and several educational institutions, libraries, roads and Asia's largest rose garden that have been named after him.
9.
Zakir Husain was born in Hyderabad in 1897 and was of Afridi Pashtun descent, his forefathers having settled in the town of Qaimganj in the Farrukhabad district of modern Uttar Pradesh.
10.
Zakir Husain was the third of seven sons of Fida Khan and Naznin Begum.
11.
Zakir Husain was homeschooled in the Quran, Persian and Urdu and is thought that he had his primary school education at the Sultan Bazaar school in Hyderabad.
12.
Zakir Husain graduated in 1918 with philosophy, English literature and economics.
13.
Zakir Husain was elected vice president of the college's students' union and won prizes for his debating skills.
14.
Zakir Husain pursued the disciplines of law and economics for his post-graduate studies.
15.
In 1915, while still pursuing his graduation, Zakir Husain married Shahjahan Begum with whom he had two daughters, Sayeeda Khan and Safia Rahman.
16.
Mahmud Zakir Husain was closely associated with the Pakistan Movement, becoming Minister of Education in the Government of Pakistan and Vice-Chancellor at Dhaka and Karachi Universities.
17.
Zakir Husain was one of the founders of this private university which had Maulana Muhammad Ali as its first "Sheikh-ul-Jamia" and Hakim Ajmal Khan as the first "Amir-i-Jamia".
18.
Zakir Husain left for Germany in 1922 to do a doctorate in economics from the University of Berlin.
19.
Zakir Husain got published the Diwan-e-Ghalib in 1925 and the Diwan-i-Shaida, a collection of poetry by Hakim Ajmal Khan in 1926.
20.
Zakir Husain returned to India in 1926 and succeeded Abdul Majeed Khwaja as "Sheikh-ul-Jamia".
21.
Zakir Husain travelled across India soliciting funds for the Jamia and got financial support from Mahatma Gandhi, the Bombay philanthropist Seth Jamal Mohammed, Khwaja Abdul Hamied the founder of the pharmaceutical firm Cipla and the Nizam of Hyderabad among others.
22.
Zakir Husain was one of the 11 initial members who took the pledge.
23.
Zakir Husain was opposed to the policy of separate electorates for Muslims and was a political opponent of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, who vetoed the Congress proposal to include Zakir Husain as a member of the Interim Government in 1946.
24.
Zakir Husain however convinced Jinnah to attend the Jamia's silver jubilee celebration on 17 November 1946.
25.
The conference appointed a Basic National Education chaired by Husain which was tasked with preparing the detailed scheme and syllabus for this policy.
26.
Zakir Husain remained the President of the Hindustani Talimi Sangh from 1938 to 1950 when he was succeeded by Kaka Kalelkar.
27.
The Congress party's argument that the scheme had been formulated by Zakir Husain was rejected by the Muslim League in its Patna session of 1939 where it declared that "the mere fact that the Principal of Jamia Millia at Delhi has taken a prominent part in the preparation of the scheme does not prove that it is not unsuited to the Muslims".
28.
On his return to Delhi, Zakir Husain worked to help the victims of rioting in Delhi.
29.
Zakir Husain was appointed Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University in 1948, succeeding Nawab Ismail Khan.
30.
Maulana Azad, the Union Minister of Education, tasked Zakir Husain with leading the university so that it could be retained as a national institution of higher education.
31.
Zakir Husain, who had served as a member of the Universities Commission between December 1948 and August 1949 however took regular charge only in early 1950 as he was incapacitated following a heart attack in October 1949.
32.
Zakir Husain set to work, attempting to dissociate the university from its past association with the Muslim League and restoring school discipline.
33.
Zakir Husain served as a nominated Member of the Rajya Sabha from 3 April 1952 to 2 April 1956 and was renominated in 1956, serving until his resignation on 6 July 1957 following his appointment as the Governor of Bihar.
34.
Zakir Husain was the Governor of Bihar from 6 July 1957 to 11 May 1962.
35.
Contrary to the advice of the then Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Krishna Sinha, Governor Zakir Husain, who was Chancellor of Patna University reappointed for a second term its serving Vice-Chancellor.
36.
Zakir Husain however threatened to resign rather than assent to such an amendment forcing the government to drop its plans.
37.
In later appointments made as Vice-Chancellors of other state universities in Bihar, Zakir Husain accepted the advice of the Chief Minister in the exercise of his powers as Chancellor and acted accordingly although he was opposed to the appointment of non-academicians as vice chancellors to universities.
38.
On 14 April 1962, the Congress party chose Zakir Husain to be its candidate for the upcoming election to the office of the Vice President of India.
39.
Zakir Husain was sworn in as vice president on 13 May 1962.
40.
Zakir Husain was chosen as the Congress party's candidate to succeed Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as the President of India in the presidential election of 1967.
41.
Zakir Husain won 4,71,244 votes against the 3,63,971 received by Subbarao.
42.
The margin of 1,07,273 votes was much larger than what was expected by the Congress party with Zakir Husain winning the most votes in Parliament and in twelve state legislatures including three where the Congress Party sat in the opposition.
43.
Zakir Husain was the first Muslim and the first governor of a state to be elected President of India.
44.
Zakir Husain's election was challenged before the Supreme Court of India on the grounds that the result of the election had been affected by undue influence exerted by the Prime Minister.
45.
Zakir Husain, who had an interest in roses, is credited with having introduced several new varieties in the Mughal Gardens of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and building a glass conservatory for its collection of succulents.
46.
Zakir Husain wrote extensively in Urdu and translated several books into that language.
47.
Zakir Husain's translations include Friedrich List's National System of Economics, Edwin Cannan's Elements of Economics and Plato's Republic.
48.
Zakir Husain wrote extensively on education in books such as Aala Taleem, Hindustan me Taleem ki az Sar-E-Nau Tanzeem, Qaumi Taleem and Taleemi Khutbat and on Urdu poets Altaf Hussain Hali in Hali: Muhibb-e-Watan and Mirza Ghalib in Intikhab-e-Ghalib.
49.
Zakir Husain wrote several stories for children which he published under a nom de plume.
50.
Zakir Husain, who had suffered a mild heart attack earlier in the year, was unwell after returning to Delhi from a tour of Assam on 26 April 1969.
51.
Zakir Husain died in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 3 May 1969 of a heart attack.
52.
Zakir Husain's body lay in state in the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan where an estimated 200,000 people paid their tributes.
53.
Zakir Husain is buried in the university campus of the Jamia Millia Islamia where his body was taken in a gun carriage in a ceremonial funeral procession, after the janaza prayers and the national salute being offered at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
54.
Zakir Husain's death was mourned in Pakistan as well where flags flew at half mast on the day of his funeral.
55.
Zakir Husain was the first President to die in office and has served the shortest tenure in office.
56.
Zakir Husain's tomb was built in 1971 and was designed by Habib Rahman.
57.
Commemorative postage stamps on Zakir Husain were issued by India Post in 1969 and 1998.
58.
The Zakir Hussain Rose Garden in Chandigarh, which is Asia's largest rose garden, is named after Husain.