Inder Kumar Gujral

Prime Minister of India

13th Prime Minister of India
In office21 April 1997 – 19 March 1998

Preceded by H D Deve Gowda

Succeeded by Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Born 4 December 1919 (age 89) Jhelum, Punjab, British India

Political party Janata Dal

Spouse(s) Shiela Gujral

Religion Hindu

Inder Kumar Gujral (born 4 December 1919) served as the 13th Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

Early life

Born in the town of Jhelum in Western Punjab, now in Pakistan, he actively took part in India’s freedom struggle, and was jailed in 1942 during the ‘Quit India Movement’. He belongs to a famous Khatri (merchant caste) family of Gujral clan.
Son of Late Shri Avtar Narain Gujral and Late Smt. Pushpa Gujral, Shri Gujral is M.A., B.Com. Ph.D. & D.Litt. (Hons. Causa). He was born at Jhelum (in undivided Punjab) on 4 December 1919. He and Smt. Shiela Gujral were married on May 26, 1945.
Shri Gujral belongs to a family of freedom fighters: both his parents participated in the freedom struggle in Punjab. At the young age of eleven, he himself actively participated in the freedom struggle in 1931 and was arrested and severely beaten by the police for organising movement of young children in the Jhelum town. In 1942, he was jailed during the Quit India Movement.

Minister in Indira Gandhi government

In the tumultuous days of June 1975, he was minister of Information and Broadcasting. On 12 June 1975, the Allahabad high court gave a verdict that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used unfair means in elections of 1971 and termed her election null and void.
Later, Gujral was appointed Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union as the Indian envoy to Moscow.