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Pratibha Devisingh Patil प्रतिभा देवीसिंह पाटील
President of India
Incumbent
Assumed office  25 July 2007
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Vice President	Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Preceded by	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Governor of Rajasthan
In office 8 November 2004 – 23 July 2007
Chief Minister	Vasundhara Raje
Preceded by	Madan Lal Khurana
Succeeded by	Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai
Born	19 December 1934 (1934-12-19) (age 75) Nadgaon, Bombay Presidency, British India
Political party	UPA-INC
Spouse(s)	Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat
Alma mater	Mooljee Jaitha College, Jalgaon Government Law College, Mumbai
Occupation	Lawyer Politician
Religion	Hinduism

Pratibha Devisingh Patil (Marathi: प्रतिभा देवीसिंह पाटील) (born 19 December 1934) is the 12th and current President of the Republic of India and first woman to hold the office. She was sworn in as President of India on 25 July 2007, succeeding Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Pratibha Patil, a member of the Indian National Congress (INC), was nominated by the ruling United Progressive Alliance and Indian Left. She won the presidential election held on 19 July 2007 defeating her nearest rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat .^[1][2][3]

Patil represented Edlabad constituency in Jalgaon District, Maharashtra as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (1962-1985), and was deputy chairwoman of the Rajya Sabha (1986-1988), Member of Parliament from Amravati in the Lok Sabha (1991-1996), and the 24th, and the first woman Governor of Rajasthan (2004-2007).

Early life

Pratibha Patil was born to Narayan Rao Patil in Nadgaon, Maharashtra. She studied at Modern school at Delhi. She received her M.Sc. from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and obtained a law degree from the Government Law College, Mumbai (affiliated to University of Bombay). One of her colleagues and close friends at the University of Bombay, Nishant Raina, introduced her to table tennis, a sport she excelled in, winning various inter-college tournaments.^[4] In 1962, Pratibha Patil was voted "College Queen" of M.J. College.^[5] The same year, she won an assembly election from Edlabad constituency on the Indian National Congress ticket.

She married educator Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat on 7 July 1965.^[6] The couple have a son and daughter.

Philanthropic foundations

Together with her husband, she set up an educational institute, Vidya Bharati Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, which runs a chain of schools and colleges in Jalgaon and Mumbai.^[7] She has also set up Shram Sadhana Trust that runs hostels for working women in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune and an engineering college in Jalgaon.^[7] She also founded and was the chairwoman of a cooperative sugar factory known as Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana and a cooperative bank named after herself as Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank. She was also involved in setting up an Industrial Training School for the visually challenged in Jalgaon and running a school for poor children of Vimukta Jatis and Nomadic tribes.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

Pratibha Patil began her political career in 1962 at the age of 27. Under the mentorship of senior Congress leaders like Dr Abasaheb Gopalrao Khedkar and ex-Chief Minister Yashwantrao Chavan,^[8] she became a deputy minister for education after re-election in 1967 (in the Vasantrao Naik ministry). In her next terms (1972-78) she was a full cabinet minister for the state. In successive congress governments, she handled the portfolios of tourism, social welfare and housing under several chief ministers, Vasantdada Patil, Babasaheb Bhosle, S. B. Chavan and Sharad Pawar. She was continually re-elected to the assembly, either from Jalgaon or the nearby Edlabad constituencies, until 1985, when she was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Congress candidate. She has never lost an election that she has contested.^[9]

In 1977, the Congress party split up after Indira Nehru Gandhi's defeat following the Indian Emergency (1975–1977). Many senior leaders of state Congress(I), including Pratibha's mentor Chavan and his protege Sharad Pawar, as well as much of the rank and file joined the Congress (Urs) party floated by Devraj Urs. However, Pratibha preferred to remain with Indira Gandhi, though it verged on inviting political ridicule. In fact, few know that Pratibha managed Indira Gandhi's kitchen when Sanjay Gandhi died.^[10] She protested the arrest of Indira Gandhi in December 1977 and spent 10 days in prison.^[11] In 1978, when the Congress (Urs) came to power in Maharashtra, she became Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.

In 1980, the Congress (I) swept back into power, and her name was considered a front-runner for the Chief Minister's post. However, the post went to Sanjay Gandhi's confidant A. R. Antulay, who was soon forced to resign on corruption charges. Subsequently, she became a minister again in the Vasantdada Patil ministry. Following differences between Patil and then Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Prabha Rau, Rajiv Gandhi appointed her as MPCC chief (1988-90).

Tenure at Centre

In 1983 Patil was elected to the Rajya Sabha, and served as its deputy chairperson from November 1986 to November 1988. Her term expired in April 1990. The following year, in the elections when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated she won the election for the 10th Lok Sabha from Amravati constituency, her husband's city, where he had once been mayor, thus first time entering in lower house of national parliament Lok Sabha.

She has also served as Director of National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks & Credit Societies and the Member of Governing Council, National Co-operative, Union of India.

Governor of Rajasthan

Pratibha Patil as Governor of Rajasthan

In November 2004, eight years after she had completed her term in the 10th Lok Sabha, Pratibha Patil was recalled from political hibernation^[9] to become the first woman Governor of Rajasthan. She was the second politician from Maharashtra in this post, the first being Vasantdada Patil. With Pratibha Patil as Governor, Rajasthan had women in three significant positions of power in the state, including Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Assembly Speaker Sumitra Singh.^[12]

In April 2006, the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly passed the Rajasthan Freedom of Religion Bill 2006 (originally titled as "Rajasthan Dharma Swatantrya Bill, 2006"). The objective of the bill was to control "unlawful conversion from one religion to another by allurement or by fraudulent means or forcibly." However, some Christian organizations opposed the bill alleging that the bill was an outcome of the rightist policies of Sangh Parivar.^[13][14] Pratibha Patil returned the bill unsigned, stating certain clauses in the Bill infringed on "the fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and expression, freedom of conscience and freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion."^[15]

The Government of Rajasthan re-sent the bill to her in May 2006 noting that similar anti-conversion laws enacted by Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa over 40 years ago were upheld by the Supreme Court of India and that the head of the Constituent Assembly, Dr B R Ambedkar, while drafting Article 25 of the Constitution had said that it would be best to leave it to the state legislatures to make laws to regulate conversions.^[14] After sitting on the bill for over a year she sent it to the President of India just a day before she resigned as governor of Rajasthan.^[16] A similar bill named Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 2006 passed later was promptly signed by the state governor.

Pratibha Patil resigned as the Governor of Rajasthan on June 21, 2007, due to her presidential candidacy.^[17]

Nomination for Presidential Election 2007

On 14 June, United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the ruling alliance of political parties in India headed by Congress (I), and the Indian left nominated her as their candidate for the Presidential Election to be held on 19 July 2007.^[18] She emerged as a compromise candidate after the Left parties would not agree to the nomination of past Home Minister Shivraj Patil. At that point, Sonia Gandhi proposed Pratibha Patil's name. Her loyalty to Nehru-Gandhi family was widely perceived to be a major factor in her nomination as UPA-Left Presidential candidate.^[19]

As a result of the potential that she would become the first female President of India, UPA Chairwoman Sonia Gandhi described her nomination as a "historic occasion" in India's 60th year of independence.

Before leaving Jaipur for New Delhi, she thanked Sonia Gandhi for choosing her and said that her first job as president would be to make National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) started by UPA a success.^[20] In Delhi she asserted that she would not be a rubber stamp president.^[19]

Accompanied by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi she filed her nomination on 23 June which was found to be valid after scrutiny. She faced Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, an NDA supported candidate, in a straight contest, and visited state capitals to garner support. Her campaign got a major boost with decision of UNPA to abstain from voting.

The Leader of the Opposition L K Advani sought intervention of Election Commission of India to get Pratibha Patil to declare her assets,^[21] but this was rejected by the Commission.

Shiv Sena, an important ally of NDA, declared its support to Pratibha Patil on the grounds that she will be the first Maharashtrian to hold this prestigious post. This decision of Shiv Sena created trouble in BJP-Sena alliance.^[22]

Presidency

Presidental styles of Pratibha Patil
Reference style	Her Excellency Pratibha Patil, President of the Republic of India
Spoken style	President Patil
Alternative style	Madame President

She won the presidential election held on July 19, 2007 defeating her nearest rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat by over 300,000 votes. She took office as India's first female president on July 25, 2007.

Controversies

Falling short of her predecessor

Former Indian President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam had set very high standards for his successor. Even before he was elected as President, Dr. Kalam was known for his illustrious past as a scientist, innovator and visionary. During his term as President, he endeared himself to people of all ages and came to be known as the 'People's President' or the humble 'President of the masses'. While in office, he constantly sought ways to transform India into a knowledge superpower using science and technology. His vision for India advocated an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020.^[23]

In comparison, there were several questions raised about Pratibha Patil's credibility even before she was elected as President, as her name and that of her family members figured in several financial scams and other crimes.^{[24][25][26][27]} Even after being elected as President, Pratibha Patil is more in the news for her bungle ups and matters irrelevant to the country, than for her efficiency as Head of the Nation. Forgetting to salute to the Indian flag at a ceremonial reception for her in Mexico,^[28] having conversations with spirits of the dead,^[29][30][31] insulting remarks on Indian culture and tradition,^[32] and regular, expensive, state sponsored holiday trips with more than a dozen family members.^[33] At a holiday trip in the Andaman islands, more than 400 trees were chopped to make way for a helipad for the President's chopper and another 60 trees were felled as they would block the President's view of the beach.^[34]

Referring to her largely ceremonial post, President Pratibha Patil had stated that she will not be a 'rubber stamp' President^[35][36] but her accomplishments so far, have not accorded her a stamp of approval from the people.^[37][38]

BJP's campaign

Since Pratibha Patil's nomination as a presidential candidate, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have highlighted her past activities and made comments as part of its political campaign against her.

BJP leader Arun Shourie authored two articles published as a booklet titled 'Does This Tainted Person Deserve to Become President of India?'.^[39] Another BJP leader, Arun Jaitley, announced the launch of a website called Know Pratibha Patil, which contains various media reports and documents concerning the questionable financial dealings of both Patil and her family.^[40] The campaign generated a lot of media attention on Pratibha Patil as a controversial and unworthy presidential candidate.^{[citation needed]}

While the BJP has been trying to build a strong public opinion against her, it clarified that it was not challenging her nomination on legal grounds.^[41]

Legal challenges to candidature

An advocate Manohar Lal Sharma has filed a Public Interest Litigation before a bench of Supreme Court of India comprising Justice Tarun Chatterjee and Justice P K Balasubramanyan challenging her nomination for the presidential election 2007. The advocate has referred to the various allegations against Patil and her family members and sought the cancellation of her nomination papers on the ground of her being an undischarged insolvent. The petitioner raised legal and constitutional questions on whether a person declared to be an 'undischarged insolvent', for not clearing a debt to the public exchequer and others, was eligible to be elected president.^[42][43]

The apex court however observed that it could not act on mere allegations, and rejected the petition at the admission stage^[44] itself. The court said there was no merit in the petition as there was no document to substantiate the allegations^[45] and raised doubts about the petitioners real intention adding it was more of a "private interest litigation".^[46] The court ruled:

The advocate then approached the Election Commission of India seeking her disqualification. The Election Commission, through an order, replied:

Following this, the advocate again approached the court and filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before a bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice R.V. Raveendran. He contended that the Election Commission had not applied its mind to the matter, and sought quashing of the commission's order.^[44]

In another case a Delhi-based NGO has also filed a petition before the Delhi High Court alleging that Patil being Managing Trustee of Mumbai-based Shram Sadhana Bombay Trust, which is under the control of state government, was holding the office of profit making her ineligible to contest the President's election.^[47] The High Court deferred the hearing until after election.

Refutation

The leaders of Indian National Congress and Indian left say that these facts highlighted are a clever mixture of truth, half-truths and exaggerations.^[48] They have also said that these issues have never been raised in the past while she was a deputy chairwoman of the Rajya Sabha, or during her tenure as a governor. They accused the BJP of launching a "malicious, unsubstantiated and deliberate" slanderous campaign just to damage her reputation.^[49][50][51] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended Pratibha Patil and dismissed the charges as "mud-slinging".^[52] On Monday 2 July 2007 breaking her long silence Pratibha Patil described the allegations leveled against her as "false, malicious and baseless".^[53]

Prominent allegations against her that have been controversial are:

Allegations of shielding her brother on a murder charge

On June 22, 2007, Rajni Patil, a professor of Marathi in a Jalgaon college, and the widow of murdered Jalgaon congressman Vishram G Patil in a press conference claimed that her husband was murdered by Pratibha Patil's brother G.N.Patil. She accused Pratibha Patil of shielding her brother. She further said that she had written to Sonia Gandhi and President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam giving details about the allegations. Copies of her memorandum to the President on this issue were distributed to the press by Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, an aide of Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani.^[54][55]

On 13 July, 2007 Rajani Patil moved the Bombay High Court demanding that the CBI "interrogate" UPA's presidential candidate Pratibha Patil and her brother in connection with the case before the presidential poll. Rajni Patil's petition stated that the CBI, which was directed by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court to probe the case in February, must question Pratibha before July 19, the date for the presidential election because she might get "presidential immunity" if she wins the poll.^[56]

The lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani said that two CDs have surfaced which contain incriminating material against Patil's brother. The CDs contain footage of the elections for the district Congress presidentship in Jalgaon. Jethmalani offered to place both CDs on record, saying "These contain vital information showing the political link behind the murder." [1]

Pratibha Women Cooperative Bank

Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank, a cooperative bank set up by Pratibha Patil in 1973 in her name, to empower women, had its license revoked in 2003 by the Reserve Bank of India for alleged financial irregularities. Among the reasons listed by the RBI for cancellation of the license was the faulty loan policy of the bank and loan interest waivers given, among others, to Pratibha Patil's relatives.^[57] Pratibha Patil was one of the chairpersons of the Bank and along with a number of her relatives, was one of its directors. She is currently one of the 34 respondents in an ongoing case in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on the subject of mismanagement of the bank and misappropriation of funds by its Managing Directors.^[58][59]

In her defence, her supporters point out that she was not the founding president^[60] of the bank, and that she held the job of the chairwoman for only a month and eight days.^[61] They also point out that the RBI has never mentioned Patil's name in the report,^[60] and the court has not charge-sheeted her.^[62] Communist leader A.B. Bardhan cast doubts on the credibility of the official employees union of the bank, which has been highlighting the issue of the banks mismanagement since 2002, drawing attention to the fact that it is associated with the BMS union led by the BJP.^[62]

Sant Muktabai Cooperative Sugar Factory

A cooperative sugar factory - Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana - of which Pratibha was a founder member, was found to be a drug trafficking ring, was declared a defaulter for failing to repay a Rs 17.5 crore (Rs 175 million) bank loan.^[63] Pratibha Patil had been its chairwoman and director till she became the Governor of Rajasthan.^[64] The loan was taken in 1994 when Pratibha was its chairwoman, but the factory has failed to repay the full amount. The bank sealed the factory on January 23, 2007 after issuing many reminders. This was the second occasion the mill had been sealed. Earlier, it was sealed in January 2006, but was reopened after the board of directors headed by G. N. Patil - younger brother of Pratibha Patil - requested for an opportunity to improve the performance of the mill.^[65]

In 2002 the chief commissioner of central excise and customs, Pune, issued notice to the factory for evading excise duty resulting from diversion of export-oriented sugar by the factory into domestic market.

Dubbing as "malign campaign" the allegations, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, defended Pratibha and noted that there was never any enquiry under Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act against her. He also pointed out that as many as 74 mills were issued notices in December 2006, and it was "unfortunate that only one particular case has been brought up in the media". Pawar said most of the mills had failed to repay the loans because of persistent drought affecting sugarcane production, leading these mills to go sick.^[66]

Nevertheless in 2007, Manohar Lal Sharma, an independent advocate, filed a public interest litigation petition in the Supreme Court alleging that Mrs Pratibha Patil was an undischarged insolvent relating to the Sant Muktabai Sugar Factory and hence disqualified to remain in the office of the presidency.^[67]

Shrama Sadhna Trust

MPLADS

As Member of Parliament from Amravati between 1991 and 1996 Pratibha Patil had diverted Rs 36 lakh (Rs 3.6 million) from her MPLADS fund to a trust run by her husband Devisingh Shekhawat. This was in violation of Government rules which barred MPs from providing funds to organisation run by their relatives.^[68][69]

Views on sterilisation

On 10 December 1975, when she was the Health Minister of Maharashtra, Pratibha Patil advocated in Maharashtra Assembly that people with hereditary diseases should be compulsorily sterilised.^[70]

Purdah remarks

On June 17, 2007, Pratibha Patil made remarks on the Purdah system, while addressing a congregation of Rajputs in Udaipur:^[71]

This comment was however welcomed by the Rajputs as they now want to come out of their infamous image and join the main stream of progress along with the whole Nation.

Divine indication

Patil claims to have spoken to the spirit of the deceased leader (Baba Lekhraj^[73]) of the at their headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.^[73]

"Dadiji ke shareer mein baba aye ... Maine unse baat ki (Baba entered Devi’s body and he communicated to me through her)," she said on TV camera.^[74] Reporters began to report on the message she received of a "divine indication" of great responsibility coming her way.^[75]

Positions held

Pratibha Patil in North-east India

See also

• Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat
• Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank
• Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana
• Know Pratibha Patil

References

External links

• Assumption Address by Pratibha Patil, official website of the President of India.
• Official profile at the Government of Rajasthan website.
• Official biodata at the Parliament of India website.

Presidents of India Rajendra Prasad · Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan · Zakir Hussain · V.V. Giri† · Muhammad Hidayatullah† · V.V. Giri · Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed · Basappa Danappa Jatti† · Neelam Sanjiva Reddy · Zail Singh · R. Venkataraman · Shankar Dayal Sharma · K.R. Narayanan · Abdul Kalam · Pratibha Patil "†" indicate acting or caretaker officeholders.