This, the first complete biography of Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma brings to the reader an authenticated, well-researched account of a unique-career which has taken Dr. Sharma from a humble lane of old Bhopal to Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, the abode of India's First Citizen.
It portrays a great personality of unsurpassed scholastic achievements, selfless public service, deep commitment to religion as well as the secular values enshrined in the Constitution. The book highlights the subject's integrity in public life.
Events of historical significance spanned by Dr. Sharma's life have been delineated in a truthful and dispassionate manner.
Freelance journalist and author, S.C.Bhatt has long been connected with the media of mass communication. He has held senior positions like Director, News Services Division, AIR, Director, Publications Division, and Director, Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP). Bhatt has also been a teacher of mass communication, being one of the founding faculty of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. He has travelled abroad and was posted for four years at Singapore and Hong Kong as AIR's South East Asia correspondent. He writes extensively in the daily and weekly press on current affairs and media subjects.
His published works include The Jagmohan Millions, Drama In Ancient India and Bharat Darshan (Hindi).
When I undertook work on this biography of Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma I was vaguely aware of the paucity of available biographical material. I knew that I could not expect much help from published sources in completing the task in an extremely short time. But as I went about the job the paucity turned out to be even more acute than I had imagined. Although Dr Sharma has long been on the political scene of the country and is, in many ways, one of the few surviving links with the pre-independence days, surprisingly not much has been written about him. What had been written was often found to be inaccurate when the facts were checked and in some respects the material was delightfully vague.
Fortunately, a number of persons who have watched him at different stages in his career and had known him at close quarters, were willing to talk. Among them I should mention Mr S. Jaipal Reddy, former leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and now leader of the Janata Dal in the House, and senior journalist, Mr K.P. Srivastava. Mr Reddy's observations were pertinent in assessing the role of Dr Sharma as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, a major chapter in his life. Mr Srivastava had known Dr Sharma while he was posted as PTI correspondent in Bhopal when Dr Sharma's star was just rising. Srivastava later kept contacts with him in Delhi.
Mrs Indira Swaroop of the Madhya Pradesh Information Centre in Delhi not only suggested names of people who could throw light on Dr Sharma's life but made excel-lent source material available from Bhopal. The Research and Reference Division Library, in Shastri Bhavan in Delhi, placed their books and reference materials at my disposal. The staff helped in tracing references in published books and old magazines and saved me much time and effort. The Press Information Bureau made available their old records and cuttings files. The PIB, Photo Division and the Madhya Pradesh information people, through Mrs Swaroop's intervention, gave me access to their photographic collections. The reference section of AIR's News Services Division traced some important references for me.
To all of them my grateful thanks are due. Above all, I am grateful to my friend, G.N.S. Raghavan, who has made this book possible. He also gave me some useful material. Dr Vijay Aggarwal of the Vice President's office extended assistance for which I am grateful.
Needless to say, the conclusions and assessment are my own and I alone am responsible for any mistakes or inaccuracies. In portraying Dr Sharma's life and his activities in his various capacities, it has been my endeavour to draw a portrait of the man and his rise from humble beginnings to the highest office in the land. The weak spots have not been slurred over and, without indulging in adulation, some of the misconceptions about his role at crucial moments have been dispelled.
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