Basappa Danappa Jatti (pronunciationⓘ) (10 September 1912 – 7 June 2002)[2] was the fifth vice president of India, serving from 1974 to 1979. He was the acting president of India from 11 February to 25 July 1977. He also served as the chief minister of Karnataka.[3] Jatti rose from a being a Municipality member to India's second-highest office during a five-decade-long chequered political career.
Jatti was born in a Kannada speakingLingayat family at Savalgi in Jamkhandi TalukofBijapur district in present-day Karnataka on 10 September 1912.[4] His parents were Dasappa Jatti and Sangamma. Jatti studied at the PB High School Jamkhandi and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rajaram College and a degree in law from the Sykes Law College, Kolhapur.[5] Jatti practiced as a lawyer for a while in Jamkhandi before being elected to the Jamkhandi municipality in 1940 and going on to become its president.[6] He was elected to the Jamakhandi State Legislature, becoming a minister and subsequently its chief minister.[6][7]
In 1940, he entered politics as a Municipality member at Jamkhandi and subsequently became the president of the Jamkhandi Town Municipality in 1945. Later, he was elected as a member of the Jamkhandi State Legislature and was appointed a minister in the government of the princely state of Jamkhandi. Finally, he became the 'dewan' (chief minister) of Jamkhandi state in 1948. As dewan, he maintained cordial relations with the Maharaja, Shankar Rao Patwardhan, and brought about the accession of the small principality to the Indian Union. On 8 March 1948 after Jamkhandi was merged with Bombay state, he returned to legal practice and continued with it for 20 months.[8]
Later, Jatti was nominated as a member of the Bombay State Legislative Assembly to represent the merged area, and within a week of his nomination, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the then Bombay chief minister, B. G. Kher. He worked in that capacity for a couple of years. After the 1952 general elections, he was appointed Minister of Health and Labour of the then Bombay government and held that post till the reorganization of states. His autobiography, 'I'm my own model', is very popular.[9]
Jatti became a member of the Mysore Legislative Assembly after the reorganization and was Chairman of the Land Reforms Committee, which paved the way for the 1961 Mysore Land Reforms Act (which abolished the tenancy system and absentee landlordism). He was the chief minister and Kadidal Manjappa was the revenue minister when the bill was adopted. In 1958, when S. Nijalingappa stepped down as chief minister of the state, Jatti was elected leader of the party in the face of a stiff challenge from Congress veteran T. Subramanya. He became the chief minister of Mysore in 1958 and continued in that office until 1962.[8]
In the assembly election of 1962 to the Mysore Legislative Assembly, Jatti was reelected from Jamkhandi.[10][11] He however was forced to resign as chief minister since he did not command the support of a majority of elected legislators of the Congress Party and was succeeded by S. R. Kanthi.[12]
Later political career
[edit]Jatti being sworn in as Vice President of India (1974)
Jatti subsequently was Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry from October 1968 to November 1972.[13][14] Jatti was appointed Governor of Orissa in November, 1972.[15] On March 1, 1973 the ruling Congress government led by Nandini Satpathy resigned after it lost its majority in the legislative assembly. Although the leader of the opposition, Biju Patnaik, staked his claim to form the government and demonstrated the support of a majority of legislators, Jatti chose to prorogue the assembly session on the advice of Sathpathy and on March 3, 1973 recommended President’s rule in the state.[16] Jatti, with the aid of advisors administered the state during the period of President’s Rule which continued until Mach, 1974.[17] He resigned as governor in August, 1974 to contest in the vice presidential election of 1974.[18] In the election, Jatti defeated the opposition candidate N.E. Horo winning 521 votes in the electoral college against 141 polled by Horo. Jatti was declared elected on 27 August 1974 and sworn in as the vice president of India on August 31, 1974.[19][20]
A deeply religious man, Jatti was the founder president of the "Basava Samithi", a religious organisation which propagated the preachings of 12th-century saint, philosopher and reformer of Lingayat community Basaveshwara.[38] The Basava samithi established in 1964 has published many books on Lingayatism and Sharanas and has got the 'vachanas' of sharanas translated into various languages.[39] He was also involved in various organisations concerned with social activities.[40]
Vice President Ansari at the birth centenary celebrations of Vice President Jatti
He died on 7 June 2002.[41] He was hailed as a man who set an example of selfless service and stood for value-based politics.[42] He was once called an ordinary man with extraordinary thought, and he named his autobiography, I'm My Own Model.[43] His centenary celebrations were held in 2012.[44][45]
^The order dismissing the state governments was challenged in the Supreme Court by six states. A seven-judge bench of the Court dismissed the appeals on 29 April 1977 without giving reasons and stating that these would be elaborated in separate judgments to follow. On 6 May 1977, in its judgement in the case of State of Rajasthan v. Union of India, Justice P. K. Goswami revealed that Jatti had met the Chief Justice of India, M. H. Beg, during the period between the Court's judgement and its detailed order and had raised the matter with the Chief Justice. In his judgement, Goswami condemned the conduct of President Jatti stating that he was parting with "the records with a cold shudder" and that he had "no option but to place this on record hoping that the majesty of the high office of the President, who should be beyond the high watermark of any controversy, suffers not in future". The observations of Justice Goswami were subsequently denied by Jatti and Justice Beg.[31][32][33]
