Top 15 Shankar Dayal Sharma Quotes

His stewardship of the upper house proved his merit for presidentship. His ruling in the Rajya Sabha, blending humour and firmness established him as a champion of Parliamentary dignity and traditions.

Called Indira “Trojan horse” during the 1969 split (of Congress party), he became cartoonists darling in 1970s when he over-played the anti-US card.

President with a mind of his own, was a politician of high values, a distinguished parliamentarian, and a great scholar. His brilliant academic and political career was a saga of dedication and abiding commitment to the pursuit of higher learning and public service.

A Freedom fighter, administrator, and a statesman, attained the status of an internationally acclaimed intellectual in the fields of international relations, rule of law, philosophy, and comparative study of religions.

He was a distinguished academician, [[astute politician, and an upholder of constitutional propriety – He was following his cherished motto of constitutional propriety in inviting BJP leader. A. B. Vajpayee to form the government after the 1996 general elections. But his government lasted for only 13 days.

Having been distressed by the performance of the hung Lok Sabhas and the instability caused by the coalition governments during his tenure, when three Prime Ministers changed their hands, he took an unprecedented stand by calling the conference of Governors as also leaders of some political parties to discuss this serious problem facing the nation which had weakened the democratic structure of the country. This action earned him a lot of controversy from different quarters. It was even doubted that he was doing so to earn a second term as President of India.

He was god fearing and as spiritualist he paid visits to saints and sadhus, and the Shankaracharya of Sringeri Math conferred on him the title of Desh Ratna.

Not only that he was a spiritualist, a moralist, an educationist]], but he was a good administrator too. He had been elected as Vice President of India and in this capacity as chairman of the Rajya Sabha he created history by taking hard stand against an MP who embarrassed him.

As a constitutional expert, and a jurist he got unequivocal recognition from the Congress and non-Congress parties. They believed that the letter and spirit of the Constitution was safe in his hands...He was a spiritualist to the core.

He was one of most qualified person academically; he was a freedom fighter; a thinker, philosopher, a politician, and above all a jurist of great eminence.

He was sometimes highly emotional. In 1990, while he was vice president and was presiding over the upper house of Parliament at time of turmoil, he broke into tears and left the hall, saying that he could not be a party to the murder of democracy.

He went on to win praise for giving the prime ministership to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, president of the main Hindu nationalist party, who had not been prime minister but who portrayed himself as a conciliator.

In 1996, when that situation arose, he was at the center of a maelstrom over forming government. He was faced with what constitutional experts said then was one of the most challenging moments in the history of independent India.

A longtime member of the Congress Party, he was its president for a time. He had a doctorate in law from Cambridge. He was elected, with support from Congress and leftist groups, as ninth president of India, that role is largely ceremonial, though its powers include discretion in choosing a prime minister if no party has a parliamentary majority.

He was Sonia Gandhi’s first choice to become prime minister when the Congress came to power in 1991. After he refused citing his age and health, P. V. Narasimha Rao was chosen to take up the mantle.