S Nijalingappa
(1902 - )
President-Hyderabad, 1968; Faridabad, 1969

Siddavanalli Nijalingappa was born on December 10, 1902 in a middle-class Hindu Lingayat family in a small village in the Bellary district, Mysore State.

He graduated from the Central College, Bangalore, in 1924, and got his Law degree from the Law College, Poona, in 1926. As a child, he was given traditional education by an old type of teacher named Veerappa Master. Thus, like the other heroes of the Indian Freedom Movement, Nijalingappa had also a unique blend of both traditional and modern education. The life and the vachanas of Basaveshwar and the philosophy of Shankaracharya, as well as the course of the Indian Freedom Movement and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi had the utmost effect on his mind.

Nijalingappa's political career started late, i.e. in 1936. He used to attend the Congress sessions as a spectator. It was in 1936, when Nijalingappa came into contact with Dr. N. S. Hardikar, that he began to take an active interest in the organization. He served it first as a volunteer, rising to be the President of the Pradesh Congress Committee and finally the President of the All India Congress Committee in 1968.

Parallel to India's Freedom Movement was the movement for the unification of Karnataka. The services rendered by Nijalingappa towards the latter was unique, and in recognition of the same, he was chosen as its first Chief Minister. Then again for the second time, he was elected to the same responsible post and he continued in that post up to April 1968. He may well be called the maker of modern Karnataka. He became the Congress President when people in many parts of the country had expressed their distrust in it in the 1967 elections. Due to the untiring efforts of Nijalingappa, the Congress Party was re-invigorated. But perhaps the greatest tragic event in the history of the Indian National Congress occurred during his Presidentship. Due to the unfortunate cleavage which developed between the organisation front and the administration wing, the Congress Party was split, with Nijalingappa siding with vested interests as against the progressive ones led by Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

- G. S. Dikshit

The Official Language of the Union has always presented a difficult and complex problem. It was after a good deal of discussion and consideration, that the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru evolved a consensus in the matter and gave a categorical assurance to the non-Hindi people that they would not be put under a handicap in adopting Hindi as the official language.

From the Presidential Address- S. Nijalingappa
I.N.C. Session, 1968, Hyderabad