History News Desk !!! Basappa Danappa Jatti (English: Basappa Danappa Jatti, born: 10 September 1912; died – 7 June 2002) was appointed as the acting President after the death of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. He was not the elected President of India. Therefore, he is addressed as the acting President only. According to the Indian constitutional system, there is a provision to make the Vice President the acting President, if the post of President becomes vacant due to any reason. At the time of the death of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, B.D. Jatti was the Vice President of the country. His tenure as Acting President lasted from 11 February 1977 to 25 July 1977. During this time, he fulfilled his responsibility with constitutional dignity.
Basappa Danappa Jatti was born on 10 September 1912 in Sawalgi village of Bijapur district. Bijapur district also became a divided part of Karnataka. When he was born, the village was completely lacking in basic facilities. His village was near the border of Mumbai Presidency. Therefore, the language there was Marathi, not Kannada. Shri Basappa’s grandfather had bought a small house and a piece of land in Sawalgi village. But due to financial problems, the house and land had to be mortgaged so that the family could sustain itself. At that time, there were two schools in Sawalgi village, which were of primary level. One, a boys’ school and the other, a girls’ school. Basappa was very mischievous in childhood. He used to look for opportunities to do mischief. Basappa used to study in his elder sister’s girls’ school and she used to protect him. After the second class, he got admission in the boys’ school. After passing the fourth class, he was admitted to A.V. School, which was opened in the same year. This school was very good.
After completing his studies at A.V. School, Basappa went to Siddeshwar High School, Bijapur to appear for the matriculation level examination. He passed the matriculation examination in 1929. He used to stay in the school hostel then. He was also interested in sports. Apart from football and swimming, he was also interested in some Indian traditional sports. He was also fond of kho-kho, mallakhamb, wrestling, exercising on single, bar and double bar. He also won the light weight wrestling championship for two consecutive years. Child marriage was a common practice at that time and Basappa also came under the grip of this practice. In 1922, he got married to Sangamma of Bhabhanagar, who was the daughter of his father’s sister. At the time of marriage, Basappa was only 10 years old and the bride Sangamma was only 5 years old. Under the practice of child marriage, marriages took place at a young age but the girl was sent to her in-laws’ house after a few years.
professional life
Basappa’s law studies which were left incomplete, were completed by him with the inspiration of a person named Tikekar who was a Tehsildar and a first class magistrate. Then he became completely dedicated towards legal education. From this point of view, it would be appropriate to believe that Tikekar proved to be his best friend, philosopher and guide. In October 1940, Basappa completed his LLB degree from Mumbai University with hard work. After obtaining the degree, Basappa practiced law in Jamakhandi from 1941 to 1945. During this time, his aim was to help the poor. To get justice for his clients, he used to work very hard in the related legal matters and did not care about the remuneration. Most of his clients were from the rural community. God’s blessings showered on his kindness. He achieved success in many important legal cases. Due to this, his name came among the famous lawyers of Jamakhandi.
political life
Basappa represented the Praja Parishad Party in the Quit India Movement of 1952. He was given the post of Secretary in the Praja Parishad Party of Jamakhandi. These days Basappa did not like being addressed as a Congressman. On 18 April 1945, he joined the cabinet of Jamakhandi State. On 25 August 1947, he was elected Chief Minister of Jamakhandi State on behalf of the Praja Parishad Party. But when the time came for the reorganization of states, Jamakhandi State became an integral part of independent India. The first general election of the Republic of India was held in 1952. In this, Basappa contested the election for MLA from Jamakhandi seat on a Congress ticket and won with a great margin. The first popular government elected by the people was formed in the state of Mumbai and Morarji Desai was elected the first Chief Minister. Basappa received the status of Deputy Minister. He started working with Shantilal Shah, who had the departments of Health and Labor. Shantilal Shah gave Basappa Jatti complete freedom to work. He felt that he himself was a cabinet minister. On 1 November 1956, the Kannada speaking part of Mumbai Province was separated and merged with Mysore. Thus, the seat from which Basappa Jamakhandi was elected MLA came under the Mysore Legislative Assembly. On 10 May 1957, he was made the chairman of the Land Reforms Committee of Mysore State. He worked here with full devotion on an honorary basis.
On 27 August 1974, Basappa won the Vice Presidential election with a huge margin. He got 78.7 percent of the votes. His nearest rival, Mr. N.E. Horo, who was the joint candidate of several opposition parties, had to face a humiliating defeat. On 31 August 1974, he was sworn in as Vice President by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, which took place at 8.30 am in the Ashok Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, her cabinet colleagues, former Vice President G.S. Pathak and Basappa’s wife Sangamma were also present during the swearing-in ceremony. It was a brief 10-minute ceremony. Immediately after this, B.D. Jatti went to Rajghat and paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his samadhi. On 31 August 1974, with Basappa assuming office, a notification was published in the Gazette of the Government of India, whose number was S.O. 561 (E) dated 31 August 1974. As Vice President, he performed his duties with utmost efficiency. As the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, he also conducted the House impartially.
On 11 February 1977, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died while serving as President. On one hand, while the arrangements for the funeral of the late President were being made, on the other hand, according to the constitutional system, the formalities for making Vice President B.D. Jatti the Acting President were also being completed. Two hours after the death of former President Late Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, B.D. Jatti was sworn in as Acting President at 10.35 am. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court M.H. Beg administered the oath to Basappa Danappa Jatti as Acting President during a simple ceremony in the Ashok Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Basappa held this post till 24 July 1977. During this period, he also addressed the House when the new session of the Sixth Lok Sabha began. After this, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was elected the President of the country. Even after his election, B.D. Jatti served as Acting President from 4 September 1977 to 24 September 1977 as Neelam Sanjiva Reddy had gone to New York for treatment during this period. When Shri Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was elected to the post of President, B. D. Jatti resigned from the post of Acting President. On 25 July 1977, he resigned from the post of Acting President and his term as Vice President ended on 30 August 1979. After this, Justice Muhammad Hidayatullah was made the new Vice President. On 1 September 1979, taking a decision in accordance with the dignity of the post of Vice President, he retired from active politics and returned to Bangalore.
B.D. Jatti was in Bangalore during the last days of his life. He was admitted to the hospital on the morning of 7 June 2002 due to complaints of vomiting and stomach pain and he died the same afternoon. Thus came an end to an era of traditionalism which also included Gandhian philosophy. At that time his family consisted of his wife, three sons and a daughter.