Vice President of India (1987–1992) Sharma was nominated by the Congress party for the
vice-presidential election of 1987. Although 27 candidates had filed nominations, only the nomination filed by Sharma was found valid by the
returning officer. After the last date of withdrawal of candidates was over, Sharma was declared elected unanimously on 21 August 1987. Sharma was sworn in as the
vice president on 3 September 1987. He was only the third person to be elected unopposed to the vice-presidency. Sharma, who was also the
ex-officio chairman of the
Rajya Sabha, offered to quit in February 1988 after his ruling admitting a discussion in the house of the purported extravagance of the then governor of Andhra Pradesh was vociferously objected to by members of the government. Several ministers of the
council of ministers led the protests against Sharma's ruling even as Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi, who was present in the house, chose not to intervene or restrain the members of his party. Sharma's response chastened the protesting members but their request to have the proceedings expunged from Parliament records was turned down by Sharma. In 1991, following the
assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Sharma was first offered the presidency of the Congress party and the post of
prime minister by
Sonia Gandhi. He however refused citing ill health and advanced age. Thereafter,
P. V. Narasimha Rao was chosen to lead the Congress party.
President of India (1992–1997) as president by
Chief Justice M. H. Kania In June 1992, Sharma was chosen by the Congress party as its candidate for the
presidential election of 1992 to succeed
R. Venkataraman. His nomination was also supported by the
communist parties. The election was held on 13 July 1992 and votes counted three days later. Sharma won 675,804 votes against the 346,485 votes polled by his main opponent
George Gilbert Swell, who was the nominee of the opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party. Two other candidates –
Ram Jethmalani and
Joginder Singh – won a small number of votes. Sharma was declared elected on 16 July 1992 and was sworn in as president on 25 July 1992. In his inaugural address, Sharma stated that "
Freedom has little meaning without
equality and equality has little meaning without
social justice" and committed himself to combating
terrorism,
poverty,
disease and
communalism in India. The validity of the election
was challenged unsuccessfully before the
Supreme Court of India.
Narasimha Rao government (1992–1996) Sharma's victory was seen as a victory for the Congress party and Prime Minister
P. V. Narasimha Rao who headed a
minority government. Although seen as a largely ceremonial post, the office of the president is key since the incumbent gets to nominate a head of government in the event of
no party gaining a majority in Parliament after national elections or after a government had lost a
vote of confidence. The Rao ministry faced three no-confidence motions during its tenure the third of which, held in July 1993, was marred by allegations of
bribery and subsequent
criminal indictment against Rao himself.|leftOn 6 December 1992, the
Babri Masjid in
Ayodhya was
demolished by a fanatic Hindu mob which led to widespread rioting across India. Sharma expressed his deep anguish and pain at the demolition and condemned the action as being contrary to the traditional ethos of India of respecting all religions and as opposed to the precepts of
Hinduism. Sharma's strong condemnation of the incident forced the Rao government to dismiss the
state government and impose
President's rule in
Uttar Pradesh, the state in which Ayodhya is located, the same evening. The following day, the
Government of India, by way of a
presidential ordinance, acquired of land in and around the spot where the mosque had stood and provided that all litigation relating to the disputed area would stand dissolved following the acquisition. In January 1993, a reference was made by Sharma to India's
Supreme Court as to whether a
Hindu temple or religious structure had existed prior to the construction of the Babri Masjid at the
disputed area where the mosque stood. In 1994, by a majority decision, the Court refused to answer the reference as it held it to be contrary to the spirit of
secularism and likely to favour a religious community. on the eve of
Independence Day, 1994 In 1995, Sharma dedicated to the
Indian people the reconstructed
Somnath temple in
Gujarat. At the dedication ceremony, Sharma stated that all religions taught the same lesson of unity and placed humanism above all else. The construction of the temple had lasted for fifty years. Questions about its financing, the role of the state in its reconstruction and the presence of constitutional functionaries during the installation of the idol had been marked by debates on secularism in the years following
India's independence. The same year, even as the Narasimha Rao government dithered on acting against
Sheila Kaul, the
governor of Himachal Pradesh, after the Supreme Court expressed its concern that she was using her
gubernatorial immunity to avoid criminal proceedings, Sharma forced the government to get her to resign immediately. Sharma largely enjoyed cordial ties with Narasimha Rao government. In 1996, however, two ordinances sent to him by the Rao government seeking to extend the benefits of
reservations in state employment and education for
Christian and
Muslim Dalits and to reduce the time allowed for campaigning in elections, were returned by Sharma on the grounds that elections were imminent and therefore such decisions should be left to the incoming government. The ruling Congress party came second with 139 seats. However, before the motion could be put to vote, Vajpayee announced his resignation. The government lasted only 13 days, the shortest in India's history. President Sharma's decision of selecting Vajpayee as prime minister drew criticism from several quarters. Unlike presidents
Ramaswamy Venkataraman or
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy who had asked prime ministerial candidates to produce lists of their supporting
MPs, thus satisfying themselves that the prime ministers appointed would be able to win a vote of confidence, Sharma had made no such demands of Vajpayee and had appointed him solely by the principle of inviting the leader of the largest party in Parliament. Also, unlike President Venkataraman, Sharma issued no
press communiqués outlining the rationale for his decision. The Communist parties criticized Sharma's decision as he had been elected president with their backing but had chosen to invite their ideological opponent to be the prime minister. Sharma's decision to invite Vajpayee has been attributed to the fact that no party had staked their claim to form the government and the
United Front, a coalition of thirteen parties, took time to decide on their leader and in getting the Congress party to extend its support to them. Sharma's deadline of two weeks given to Vajpayee to prove his majority was much shorter than the time given to prime ministers in previous instances and was a move to discourage
horse trading. Gowda and a 21-member
council of ministers sworn in on 1 June and won a vote of confidence within the deadline of twelve days set by Sharma. Gowda, a former
chief minister of Karnataka, was India's third prime minister in as many weeks and headed a diverse coalition comprising
regional parties, leftists and
lower caste Hindu politicians. He was also India's first prime minister not conversant in its
official language,
Hindi. The government lasted ten months and was dependent on the Congress party which, under its new president
Sitaram Kesri, withdrew support in April 1997 alleging failure on the part of the prime minister in preventing the growth of
Hindu nationalist political parties in
North India. Sharma then directed Gowda to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament. Gowda lost the vote of confidence on 11 April 1997 and continued to head a caretaker government as President Sharma considered a further course of action.
I. K. Gujral government On 21 April 1997,
Inder Kumar Gujral, who had been the
foreign minister under Deve Gowda, was sworn in as prime minister and was given two days time win a vote of confidence in Parliament. He was the third prime minister to be sworn in by Sharma and his government would last 322 days when the Congress party again withdrew support to the United Front ministry.
State visits by the
sultan of Oman,
Qaboos bin Said during his state visit in 1996. As president, Sharma led state visits to
Bulgaria,
Chile, the
Czech Republic,
Greece,
Hungary,
Italy,
Namibia,
Oman,
Poland,
Romania,
Slovakia,
Trinidad and Tobago,
Turkey,
Ukraine, the
United Kingdom, and
Zimbabwe. At the end of his tenure, he chose not to seek a second term in office and was succeeded to the presidency by Vice President
K. R. Narayanan. == Death ==