Elegantly dressed he was always courteous but firm in what he believed to be just and fair and presented himself as a Moghul, as it were, which quali… - Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed

He was the president who proclaimed the two-year period of Emergency that marked such a difficult period in India's political history. This, and his subsequent death in office, marked him in public memory forever as the “Emergency President”.

He was a close friend of Zakir Husain, the third President of India. It was a coincidence and a tribute to their friendship that both occupied the highest position of the land, died in harness of heart failure and collapsed in the same bathroom of the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

He was a nationalist to the core. Nationalism was in his blood. In fact he surpassed his father even, as far as nationalism or patriotism was concerned. He joined Indian National Congress in the year 1931 as its primary member. Soon he became the darling of the top leaders in the Congress.