Pratibha Patil

Patil was born in a Marathi family{{cite news |last1=PTI |title=Bal Thackeray: The mascot of Marathi pride |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/bal-thackeray-the-mascot-of-marathi-pride-112111700260_1.html |access-date=28 July 2022 |work=Business Standard India |date=17 November 2012}}{{cite news |last=Patel |first=Aakar |date=28 August 2009 |url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/3u2QUPuXBEFPaBQXU2R8mJ/When-will-the-BrahminBania-hegemony-end.html |title=When will the Brahmin-Bania hegemony end? |work=Mint |access-date=7 September 2023}} on 19 December 1934 in the village of Nadgaon in Jalgaon, Maharashtra. She was the daughter of Narayan Rao Patil.{{cite web |title=Ex Governor of Rajasthan |url=http://rajassembly.nic.in/PratibhaPatil.htm |publisher=Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Secretariate |access-date=26 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804130808/http://rajassembly.nic.in/PratibhaPatil.htm |archive-date=4 August 2013}} She was educated initially at R. R. Vidyalaya town and subsequently was awarded a master's degree in Political Science and Economics by Mooljee Jetha College, Jalgaon (then under Poona University), and then a Bachelor of Law degree by Government Law College, Bombay, affiliated to the University of Bombay (now University of Mumbai). Patil then began to practice law at the Jalgaon District Court, while also taking interest in social issues such as improving the conditions faced by Indian women.{{cite web |title=Profile: President of India |publisher=NIC / President's Secretariat |url=http://india.gov.in/govt/whoswho.php?id=2 |access-date=26 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208101656/http://india.gov.in/govt/whoswho.php?id=2 |archive-date=8 February 2012}}

Patil married Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat on 7 July 1965. The couple has a daughter, Jyoti Rathore and a son, Raosaheb Shekhawat, who is also a politician.{{cite news |title=In Amravati, it's about taking revenge for 2009 polls |first=Kunal |last=Purohit |work=Hindustan Times |date=11 October 2014 |url=http://www.hindustanitimes.com/india/in-amravati-it-is-about-taking-revenge-for-2009-polls/story-CaoFU6bvG2TS6tYEUdCGTJ.html |access-date=11 January 2016}}

In 1962, at the age of 27, she was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the Jalgaon constituency.{{cite book|author=Ritu Singh|title=President Pratibha Patil: India's First Woman President|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pk5osTwvBPcC|year=2007|publisher=Rajpal & Sons|isbn=978-81-7028-705-6|page=52}} After that she won in the Muktainagar (formerly Edlabad) constituency on four consecutive occasions between 1967 and 1985, before becoming a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha between 1985 and 1990. In the 1991 elections for the 10th Lok Sabha, she was elected as a Member of Parliament representing the Amravati constituency. A period of retirement from politics followed later in the decade.{{cite news |publisher=BBC |title=Profile: Pratibha Patil |date=21 July 2007 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6910097.stm |access-date=26 June 2012}}

Patil had held various Cabinet portfolios during her period in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and held official positions in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. In addition, she had been the president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee for a few years. Also, she held office as Director of the National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies and as a Member of the Governing Council of the National Co-operative Union of India.

On 8 November 2004 she was appointed the 17th Governor of Rajasthan,{{cite web |url= http://rajassembly.nic.in/govphoto.htm |title= Former Governors of Rajasthan |publisher= Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Secretariat |access-date= 26 June 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120417094946/http://www.rajassembly.nic.in/govphoto.htm |archive-date= 17 April 2012 |url-status= dead }} the first woman to hold that office.

{{Main|2007 Indian presidential election}}

File:The Chief Justice of India Shri K.G. Balakrishnan administering the oath of the office of the President of India to Smt. Pratibha Patil at a swearing-in ceremony in the central hall of Parliament, in New Delhi.jpg administering the oath of the office of the President of India to Pratibha Patil at a swearing-in ceremony in the central hall of Parliament, in New Delhi.]]

Patil was announced as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) candidate on 14 June 2007. She emerged as a compromise candidate after the left-wing parties of the alliance would not agree to the nomination of former Home Minister Shivraj Patil or Karan Singh.{{cite news |url=http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070015515&ch=6/14/2007%206:54:00%20PM |title=Prez polls: Sonia announces Pratibha Patil's name |publisher=NDTV |date=14 June 2007 |access-date=3 July 2012}} Patil had been loyal to the INC and the Nehru–Gandhi family for decades and this was considered to be a significant factor in her selection by INC leader Sonia Gandhi, although Patil said that she had no intention of being a "rubber-stamp president".{{cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1103782 |work=Daily News & Analysis |title=I will not be a rubber stamp President |date=16 June 2007 |agency=PTI |access-date=11 January 2016}}

In the same month that she was selected as a member of the UPA, Patil was accused of shielding her brother, G. N. Patil, in the 2005 Vishram Patil murder case. Vishram Patil had narrowly defeated G. N. Patil in an election to be the President of the District Congress Committee of Jalgaon and in September of that year had been murdered. Vishram Patil's widow eventually accused G. N. Patil of involvement in the crime and claimed that Pratibha Patil had influenced the criminal investigation and that the issue needed to be examined before presidential immunity became active.{{cite news |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/story/160239.html |title=Congman's wife drags Pratibha name into allegations, NDA distances itself |date=22 June 2007 |work=The Indian Express |access-date=10 January 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830100549/http://www.indianexpress.com/story/160239.html |archive-date=30 August 2008 }} Her accusations were rejected by the courts in 2009{{cite news |agency=IANS |work=Thaindian |url=http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/court-dismisses-lawsuit-against-presidents-brother_100287917.html |date=11 December 2009 |title=Court dismisses lawsuit against president's brother |access-date=10 January 2016 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305014253/http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/court-dismisses-lawsuit-against-presidents-brother_100287917.html |url-status=dead }} but in 2015 G. N. Patil was charged. No reference to the alleged involvement of Pratibha Patil was made at this time.{{cite news |title=Court summons brother of Pratibha Patil in murder case |date=8 July 2014 |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/court-summons-brother-of-pratibha-patil-in-murder-case/#sthash.y82k7pVV.dpuf |work=The Indian Express |access-date=10 January 2016}}

Due to the presidential role being largely a figurehead position, the selection of the candidate is often arranged by consensus among the various political parties and the candidate runs unopposed.{{cite news |title = Patil Poised to Become India's First Female President |first=Bibhudatta |last=Pradhan |publisher=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aHJhXtWRZ4bA&refer=india |date=19 July 2007 |access-date=2 July 2012}} Contrary to the normal pattern of events, Patil faced a challenge in the election. The BBC described the situation as "the latest casualty of the country's increasingly partisan politics and [it] highlights what is widely seen as an acute crisis of leadership". It "degenerated into unseemly mudslinging between the ruling party and the opposition". Her challenger was Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the incumbent vice-president and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran. Shekhawat stood as an independent candidate and was supported by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a group led by the BJP,{{cite news |date=19 July 2007 |publisher=BBC |title=Indian MPs vote for new president |access-date=2 July 2012 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6905905.stm}} although the Shiv Sena party, which was a part of NDA, supported her because of her Marathi origin.{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/26/stories/2007062651100100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629015754/http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/26/stories/2007062651100100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2007 |title=Shiv Sena backs Pratibha Patil |first=Meena |last=Menon |date=26 June 2007 |work=The Hindu |access-date=4 February 2014}}

Those opposed to Patil becoming president claimed that she lacked charisma, experience, and ability. They also highlighted her time spent away from high-level politics and queried her belief in the supernatural, such as her claim to have received a message from Dada Lekhraj, a dead guru.{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Pratibha_believes_in_spirits/articleshow/2152156.cms |title=Pratibha believes in spirits? |work=The Times of India |date=27 June 2007 |first=Himanshi |last=Dhawan |access-date=11 January 2016}} Various specific issues were raised, such as a comment made by her in 1975 that those suffering from hereditary diseases should be sterilised. Another alleged that while a Member of Parliament for Amravati she diverted Rs 3.6 million from her MPLADS fund to a trust run by her husband. This was in violation of Government rules which barred MPs from providing funds to organisations run by their relatives.{{cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1107938 |work=DNA |title=Now, a land grab haunts Patil |date=4 July 2007 |access-date=11 January 2016}} The parliamentary affairs minister denied any wrongdoing on Patil's part and noted that the funds are used under MPLADS, by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.{{cite news |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/story/203981.html |title=For family again: Patil's MP funds for sports complex on land leased to husband society |work=Indian Express |date=6 July 2007 |access-date=11 January 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012221143/http://www.indianexpress.com/story/203981.html |archive-date=12 October 2007 }}

Patil won the election held on 19 July 2007. She garnered nearly two-thirds of the votes{{cite news |title=First female president for India |date=21 July 2007 |publisher=BBC |access-date=3 July 2012 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6909979.stm}} and, on 25 July 2007, took oath as India's 12th President, the first woman to hold the position.{{cite web |last=Reals |first=Tucker |date=21 July 2007 |title=India's First Woman President Elected |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/indias-first-woman-president-elected/ |access-date=30 July 2015 |website=CBS News}}{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=B. |title=The Statesman's Yearbook 2009: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World |date=12 January 2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-74027-7 |page=605 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ipPlDQAAQBAJ |language=en}}

{{undue|date=June 2025}}

File:The President, Smt. Pratibha Patil addressing the Nation on the eve of 61st Independence Day, in New Delhi on August 14, 2007.jpg

File:The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil with Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh before the State Banquet hosted by The Queen Elizabeth-II at Windsor Castle, in London on October 27, 2009.jpg and Prince Philip at Windsor Castle, 2009]]

Patil's term as the President of India saw various controversies and is widely considered as lackluster.{{cite news |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/president-pratibha-patils-brush-with-controversy/248154-3.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415060824/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/president-pratibha-patils-brush-with-controversy/248154-3.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 April 2012 |title=President Pratibha Patil's brush with controversy |work=IBN Live |date=12 April 2012 |access-date=14 April 2013}} She commuted death sentences of 35 petitioners to life, a record. President's Office, however, defended this by saying that President had granted clemency to the petitioners after due consideration and examining the advice of the Home Ministry.{{cite news| url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/President-defends-mercy-spree-to-death-row-convicts/articleshow/14400295.cms| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922230404/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-26/india/32424345_1_death-row-convicts-clemency-home-minister| url-status=live| archive-date=22 September 2013| work=The Times of India|title=President defends mercy spree to death row convicts |date=26 June 2012}}{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/President-Pratibha-Patil-goes-on-mercy-overdrive/articleshow/14330594.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605212805/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-22/india/32367604_1_pardons-mercy-petitions-molai-ram |url-status=live |archive-date=5 June 2013 |work=The Times of India |title=President Pratibha Patil goes on mercy overdrive |date=22 June 2012}}

Patil was noted for having spent more money on foreign trips, and having taken a greater number of foreign trips, than any previous president.{{cite news|title=President Patil's foreign trips cost Rs 205 crore|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/president-patil-s-foreign-trips-cost-rs-205-crore/928306/|access-date=21 September 2013|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=26 March 2012}} Sometimes accompanied by as many as 11 members of her family, there had been 12 foreign trips spanning 22 countries by May 2012, when she was away on her 13th trip. Those completed travels had cost Rs 205 crore (Rs 2.05 billion). The Ministry of External Affairs said that taking family members "was not abnormal".{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pratibha-Patil-took-up-to-11-relatives-on-18-trips-in-a-year/articleshow/12973357.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724025254/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-03/india/31555921_1_foreign-trips-president-pratibha-patil-travel |url-status=live |archive-date=24 July 2013 |title=Pratibha Patil took up to 11 relatives on 18 trips in a year |first=Himanshi |last=Dhawan |date=3 May 2012 |work=The Times of India |access-date=10 January 2016}}

The Office of President has a five-year term{{cite news |publisher=BBC |access-date=3 July 2012 |date=13 July 2007 |title=India's muckraking presidential poll |first=Soutik |last=Biswas |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6294238.stm}} and Patil retired from the role in July 2012.{{cite news |title=Pratibha Patil gets retirement home in Pune |first=Alka |last=Kshirsagar |date=25 June 2012 |work=Business Line |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article3569095.ece |access-date=26 June 2012}}

Patil allegedly used public funds to build a retirement mansion on a {{convert|260000|sqft|m2}} plot of military land in Pune. Tradition is that a retiring president either takes residence in Government accommodation in Delhi or moves back to their residence in their home state; her use of government money to build a retirement home at the end of the presidential term was unprecedented.{{cite news|work=The Times of India |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pratibhas-Pune-home-a-break-from-tradition/articleshow/12668229.cms |title=Pratibha's Pune home a break from tradition |first=Josy |last=Joseph |date=15 April 2012 |access-date=10 January 2016}} Other controversies that arose after her retirement included her desire to claim both an official government car and fuel allowance for the running of a private car, despite rules clearly stipulating that this was an either/or situation. She also took possession of many gifts that had been given to her in her official role and was later forced to return them.{{cite news |first=D. P. |last=Satish |title=Former President Pratibha Patil wants both car & fuel from government |date=29 July 2015 |work=IBN Live |url=http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/former-president-pratibha-patil-wants-both-car-fuel-from-government-1027151.html |access-date=11 January 2016 |archive-date=26 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126013547/http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/former-president-pratibha-patil-wants-both-car-fuel-from-government-1027151.html |url-status=dead }}

Patil set up Vidya Bharati Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, an educational institute which runs a chain of schools and colleges in Amravati, Jalgaon, Pune and Mumbai. She also set up Shram Sadhana Trust, which runs hostels for working women in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune; and an engineering college for rural students in Jalgaon district.{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pratibha-Patils-Resume/articleshow/2218456.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818230005/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-07-19/india/27975570_1_jalgaon-maharashtra-assembly-political-party |url-status=live |archive-date=18 August 2013 |title=Pratibha Patil's Resume |date=19 July 2007 |work=The Times of India |access-date=11 January 2016}} She also co-founded a cooperative sugar factory known as Sant Muktabai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana at Muktainagar.{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?id=96c7cdbd-9376-4f62-89c3-4571eccd8857Who%20will%20be%20India's%20next%20President_Special&&Headline=Pratibha-founded+unit+gets+bank+notice |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930061006/http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageStoryPage.aspx?id=96c7cdbd-9376-4f62-89c3-4571eccd8857Who%20will%20be%20India's%20next%20President_Special&&Headline=Pratibha-founded+unit+gets+bank+notice |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 September 2007 |work=Hindustan Times |title=Pratibha-founded sugar unit owes bank Rs 17.70 cr |date=30 September 2007 }}

In addition, Patil founded a cooperative bank, Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank, that ceased trading in February 2003 when its licence was cancelled by the Reserve Bank of India. Among other failings, the bank had given illegal loans to her relatives that exceeded the bank's share capital. It had also given a loan to her sugar mill which was never repaid. The bank waived these loans, and this drove it into liquidation. The government liquidator of the bank, P. D. Nigam, said, "The fact that relatives of the founder chairperson (Pratibha Patil) were among those indiscriminately granted loans and that some illegal loan waivers were done has come up in our audit." Six of the top ten defaulters in the bank were linked to her relatives. The INC claimed that Patil had not been involved with the bank since 1994 but The Indian Express reported that it had official documents showing her involvement as late as 2002.{{cite news |title=Patil was aware of her bank mess, top defaulters her kin |first=Ritu |last=Sarin |date=26 June 2007 |work=The Indian Express |url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/patil-was-aware-of-her-bank-mess-top-defaulters-her-kin-/202794/ |access-date=10 January 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publications/PDFs/73892.pdf |title=Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India, 2005–06: Appendix Table IV.3: Urban Co-operative Banks Under Liquidation |page=328 (5) |publisher=Reserve Bank of India |access-date=5 July 2012}}

Pratibha Patil has held various official offices during her career. These are:

• {{flag|Mexico}}:
• 40px Order of the Aztec Eagle, Sash of Special Category (3 August 2018){{cite news |date=1 June 2019 |title=Former President Pratibha Patil awarded Mexico's highest civilian honour for foreigners |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ex-president-pratibha-patil-awarded-mexicos-highest-civilian-honour-for-foreigners-5760200/ |access-date=1 June 2019 |publisher=The Indian Express}}{{cite web|url=https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5533864&fecha=03/08/2018|title=ACUERDO por el que se otorga la Condecoración de la Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca, en grado de Banda en Categoría Especial, a la Excelentísima Señora Pratibha Devisingh Patil, expresidenta de la República de la India|website=Diario Oficial de la Federación|access-date=1 June 2019}}

• Presidency of Pratibha Patil
• List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Pratibha Patil}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://presidentofindia.nic.in/ President of India Official Site]
• [http://pratibhapatil.nic.in/ Ex-President of India Pratibha Patil's Official Site] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519081458/http://pratibhapatil.nic.in/ |date=19 May 2018 }})
• [http://pratibhapatil.info/ Ex-President Pratibha Patil's Personal Site (www.pratibha patil.info)]
• {{cite news |last1=Thakurdesai |first1=Prerana |last2=Sahgal |first2=Priya |date=9 July 2007 |title=Embarrassing Choice: Scandals and mud-slinging have turned the presidential polls into an unseemly affair |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/patil-the-outstanding-choice-for-presidentship/1/155553.html |work=India Today |access-date=11 January 2016}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|in-lwr}}

{{s-bef|before=Sudam Deshmukh}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament
for Amravati|years=1991–1996}}

{{s-aft|after=Anant Gudhe}}

|-

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef|before=Madan Lal Khurana}}

{{s-ttl|title=Governor of Rajasthan|years=2004–2007}}

{{s-aft|after=Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=A. P. J. Abdul Kalam}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of India|years=2007–2012}}

{{s-aft|after=Pranab Mukherjee}}

{{s-end}}

{{Presidents of India}}

{{Governors of Rajasthan}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patil, Pratibha}}

Category:20th-century Indian lawyers

Category:20th-century Indian women lawyers

Category:1934 births

Category:20th-century Indian women politicians

Category:21st-century Indian politicians

Category:21st-century Indian women politicians

Category:Deputy chairmen of the Rajya Sabha

Category:Educators from Maharashtra

Category:Governors of Rajasthan

Category:India MPs 1991–1996

Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra

Category:Leaders of the opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly

Category:Living people

Category:Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra

Category:Marathi people

Category:People from Amravati

Category:People from Jalgaon district

Category:Presidents of India

Category:Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra

Category:Women educators from Maharashtra

Category:Women members of the Lok Sabha

Category:Women members of the Rajya Sabha

Category:Women presidents in Asia

Category:Women state governors of India

Category:20th-century presidents in Asia

Category:First women presidents

Category:21st-century women presidents