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Article: View from the top: KR Narayanan was India's first and only Dalit President from 1997 to 2002. Mari Marcel Thekaekara found him ready to speak his mind.(POLITICS)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- July 1, 2005
- Author:
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THE contradiction confounds you. A Dalit elected to the highest post in the land in a country where every day Dalits are humiliated, raped, tortured and killed. Of course, governments are notorious for tokenism; show-casing their support for minorities through figurehead appointments. In India it's a fine art.
But in Kocheril Raman Narayanan (or KRN as he is known), India's first and only Dalit President, they got more than they bargained for. Elected in 1997, he refused to be a rubber-stamp President, confounding his critics by speaking out on a range of issues. India's 10th President was elected to office in an unprecedented social revolution, winning 95 per ...