Giri Was Banned By British

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32073, 22 August 1969, Page 11

Giri Was Banned By British

(N .Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copi/rlflhti NEW DELHI, Auy. 21. Mr V. V. Giri is a militant, Irish - trained trade unionist and lawyer, with a lively sense of humour. He became acting President of India last May, after the death of President Zakir Hussain and, in July, announced that he would contest the election for the Presidency, a move which widened the breach in the ruling Congress Party. Mr Giri had the support of the Prime Minister (Mrs Indira Gandhi) and most Leftwing parties, but the Congress Party’s official candidate was the Speaker of the House of the People (Mr Neelam Sanjiva Reddy). Born in Berhampore on August 10, 1894, Mr Giri, who is a Hindu, studied law in

Dublin before embarking on a career in Indian politics that took him through the Governorships of the States of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Mysore, and the Vice-Presi-dency of India. In Ireland, Mr Giri was attracted by the Sinn Fein movement of the Irish revolutionaries, and became friendly with some of its leaders before the British banned him from Ireland. Returning to India, Mr Giri joined Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom movement and plunged into trade union affairs.

He led a rail strike in Benga, founded the Railwaymen’s Federation, and eventually became president of the old, all-India Trade Union Congress; he also represented Indian labour at international labour conferences in the 1920 s and 19305. Mr Giri became Minister of Labour in Madras in 1837 and. after independence, was India’s High Commissioner in

Ceylon. In 1952, he joined the late Mr Nehru’s Cabinet as Minister of Labour, but resigned two years later because he did not agree with the Government’s amendment of a labour tribunal’s award to bank employees. He was elected Vice-Presi-dent of India in May, 1967, as the candidate of the Congress Party.

When he announced that he would contest the Presidential elections, Mr Giri lesued a statement saying that he bad been impelled to stand for office by the dictates of his conscience, and had not been prompted by personalities or parties.