Zakir Hussain

Zakir Hussain Biography

Zakir Hussain served as the third President of India. He was in this position from 13^th May 1967 to 3^rd May 1969. He was the first elected Muslim president of India. He was given the highest civilian award of India Bharat Ratna award in 1963.

He was born on 8^th February 1897 in Hyderabad Deccan in India. His ancestors belonged to the pushtun soldiers that moved from Afghanistan to Rohilkhand during the Afghan invasion of the 17^th century. From Kaimganj in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh his family migrated to Hyderabad Deccan. He lost his father when he was ten and his mother when he was fourteen. He studied at Islamia High School at Etawah and at Anglo Muhammadan Oriental College which is named now as Aligarh Muslim University. He was a student leader when at college.

He with a small group started National Muslim University when he was only 23. This was founded in Aligarh on 29^th October 1920 and was shifted to Karol Bagh in New Delhi in 1925. Again this was shifted to Jamia Nagar on 1^st March 1935 and was named as Jamia Millia Islamia. He obtained PhD from University of Berlin in Economics. When he was at Germany he brought out the anthology of the greatest Urdu poet Mirza Assadullah Khan Ghalib.

Jamia Millia was facing closure and he returned back India in 1927 and headed the institution. He was in this position for next 21 years. He was involved in the Indian freedom struggle and engaged himself with the educational reforms in India. After the independence of India, he agreed to be the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. He proved to be a good leader during the critical phase of the history of University at Aligarh from 1948 to 1956.

He was nominated as the member of Rajya Sabha in 1956 and in 1957 he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar. He served as its governor from 1957 to 1962 and then became the second Vice President of India in 1962. In 1967 he was elected as the President of India. He assumed office on 13^th May 1967. He died on 3^rd May 1969 and was buried in the campus of the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. 

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Updated: January 14, 2013